Investigating Love
by GhostWriter1412
Summary: Lois is investigating the death of Lilian Luthor. Interested in why Lionel starts targeting the reporter, Clark Luthor tries to get close to Lois in order to get hands on her research. AU/Please read the summary inside, 255 characters aren't enough
1. Chapter 1

**When Lois Lane starts investigating the death of Lilian Luthor from 10 years ago, she suddenly finds herself the center of attention in regards to the Luthors: Lionel Luthor tries to have her killed and Clark Luthor seems to be whereever she goes**. **But Lois Lane wouldn't be Lois Lane if she'd back down to anyone!**

**Interested in why Lionel seems so disturbed by the investigations of the most famous female reporter of 'The Daily Planet' Clark Luthor tries to get close to Lois in order to get his hands on her research. However, the more he gets to know Lois, the more concerned he gets about her safety.**

**When Lionel Luthor ups his game to get rid of the nosy reporter, will Clark be able to keep Lois save while keeping his secret and also uncovering the secret Lionel is apparently trying to hide? Maybe, as long as the feelings that start building between Lois and Clark don't get the best of them...**

_This is an AU-fiction! Clark is not as mean and bad as the Clark Luthor we got to see on Smallville but he isn't as good as Clark Kent, either..._ _He's likable but no angel!_ Hope you'll like it!

**Chapter 1**

Clark Luthor shot up in his bed, sweat beading on his forehead. The screams from his nightmare were echoing in his head, the images of flames and blood blurring his vision.

"You've got to be kidding" he cursed, kicking the sheets off his body. He was Clark Luthor, a man that was feared and admired, someone who possessed power. He didn't do nightmares.

He stood up from his king-sized bed and walked into his personal bathroom. He readied himself for the day so fast that his movements would have been a blur to any normal person and then left his room.

He found his father in the living room of the Luthor Mansion, sitting in one of the armchairs by the fireplace as he read some papers that were lying in his lap.

"Clark..." he said, looking up. "Just the man I wanted to talk to. There is something we have to discuss, son." Lionel gestured to the armchair across from his and Clark sat down. He kept his face completely impassive as he looked at the man who had adopted him, the man with whom he shared a twisted relationship that consisted of love and hate.

He had a feeling that he knew what Lionel was going to bring up, but the man surprised him. "Lois Lane. I'm sure you've heard the name before..." Lionel made a short pause and Clark knew that he was checking his face for a reaction. However, unlike most times, Clark had no idea what his father would want to discuss with him regarding that woman.

He knew the name, of course he did. Lois Lane was one of the best reporters the famous newspaper 'The Daily Planet' had to offer and anyone who read 'The Planet' knew her. Why Lionel seemed to deem her worthy of mentioning, however, was lost on Clark.

"A particularly nosy woman. She seems to have been investigating Luthor business... not exactly a smart thing to do. Care to comment?" Lionel looked at him with those intense eyes of his as if he were trying to read his mind.

"Luthor business? Anything in particular?" Clark asked, a frown appearing on his face. What exactly was his father trying to hide this time? Surely he wouldn't be scared of one little reporter sticking her nose into his business... if she tried to uncover something Lionel really wanted to stay buried, then he would simply get rid of her... after all, that was the way of the Luthors.

"It seems she has been asking questions about your mother's death..." Lionel said, his expression careful, guarded. Clark only raised his eyebrows, trying to hide the pain he felt at the mentioning of Lilian, the woman who had helped to raise him until she had died an untimely death.

"It has almost been ten years... it doesn't have to mean anything that she is investigating it right now. Who knows, she could be doing an article on celebrities who died early in their lives. Reporters do it all the time. It could be a mere coincidence." Clark replied, while he wondered why Lionel was reading so much into it.

"Coincidence." Lionel scoffed, his expression showing clear distaste. "That's an explanation used by fools and liars. However, it does seem rather insignificant. The worst that reporter can do is rip open an old wound." Lionel got up, turning away his face, but Clark had seen his expression. The old man was hiding something, something he didn't want Clark to know about.

"You look tired, son." Lionel noted, unsubtly changing the topic. Clark's eyes narrowed. The man was most definitely hiding something. "You have been looking kind of weary lately... you haven't had any fun as your other persona either. Ultraman... genius, son. Real genius." Lionel sighed, checking Clark's appearance. "You should rest, son. Remember: Empires are not brought down by outside forces, they are destroyed by weaknesses from within." The man looked at his watch. "I have a meeting soon. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that he left the room, not even giving Clark the chance to give a reply to anything he had said. But Clark didn't mind. He had made plans, now that he had talked to Lionel...

He was going to find out what it was the old man was hiding... and in order to do that he was going to meet a certain female reporter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Do you mind?" Lois asked, her voice exasperated as she pushed through the crowd surrounding the crime scene. A robbery had taken place in Metropolis... again. It was the second one this week and the fifth one this month. It was scary, watching the city turn into a place that was getting less and less save.

Since the appearance of Ultraman and the lack of power the police had had against him, people seemed to think that they, too, would be able to elude the police and keep themselves from being locked behind bars. Lois had a hard time sleeping in her apartment in Metropolis at night because the sirens of police cars and ambulances were hard to ignore.

As she pushed herself past an older woman that looked exactly like one of those women who spied on her neighbors from behind her curtains, Lois finally made it to one of the police officers.

"Lois Lane, I'm with 'The Daily Planet'. Can you tell me anything about the robbery?" she showed him her badge while talking, but he only spared it a quick glance. Lois was well known in the police department and at least half of the cops in Metropolis had seen her face before.

The elderly lady behind her leaned forward, no doubt trying to hear what the cop in front of Lois had to say. The officer seemed to notice that to and gave the woman a once-over, then looked at Lois.

"Why don't you go and ask one of my colleagues inside, Miss Lane. I'm sure they'll be able to tell you more than I can." he lifted up the warning tape behind him as he spoke and let Lois through. "Thanks, officer!" Lois replied and smiled at the man before disappearing into the bank.

It was rather busy inside. There were police officers everywhere, talking to employees and other witnesses. Lois sighed. Show time.

Two hours and talking to many a cop later, Lois was finally able to leave the crime scene, her head filled with all the details about the robbery that she had been able to garner. She was just putting her notepad into her purse when suddenly she bumped into someone. The impact almost sent her spiraling against the ground.

"Hey, watch it." she said and looked up into one of the most handsome faces she had ever laid eyes on. But that wasn't why she had to gulp. The man standing in front of her was as handsome as he was famous. Her eyes met non other than those of Clark Luthor as she righted herself.

He seemed unfazed, almost as if he hadn't even felt the impact. His gaze took in her appearance for a second before his eyes settled on hers again.

"Miss Lane, am I correct?" he asked, his voice sending shivers down her spine. She usually wasn't one of those girls that swooned whenever she saw a handsome guy, but his voice was so deep and pleasant that she almost forgot that fact. That, however, made her angry.

She wasn't going to be swayed from her normal self by this rich boy with his playboy mannerism. Clark Luthor was notorious for having slept with enough women to last for more than one lifetime and Lois Lane sure as hell was not going to pine for him like any of those girls.

"Yes, Mr. Luthor, that is correct. Have a nice day." she was about to side step him and leave, but he blocked her way. "You seem to be in a hurry..." he said, blocking away again when she tried the other side.

Exasperated she looked up at him, wondering why the hell he couldn't just let her pass. "Yes, Mr. Luthor, I am quite busy. In fact, I have a dead-line to meet. So unless there is a case of 911 here..." she trailed off, sighing heavily.

"You're huffy..." Clark Luthor said, surprise and amusement in his voice. "No, I am not huffy. I am a general's daughter, I don't even know how to get huffy. I do happy, I do sad, and right now I really want to get back to my office and write my article! So if you would please let me pass, Mr. Luthor." He let her pass, his face still a little perplexed. Lois snorted as she stopped a Taxi that would take her back to 'The Planet'. Rich boys. They sure thought that every single person would kiss up to them, didn't they? Whatever, this was probably the first and last time she'd ever get to see Clark Luthor...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Clark followed the reporter with his eyes as she walked away from him and got into a taxi. His brows were drawn as he watched the car speed away.

This had been... unexpected, to say the least. Normally people cowered down in fear whenever they saw him... or any other member of his family. The name 'Luthor' tended to do that to people.

It was understandable, considering that the Luthors were a very powerful, rich family... and had a history of making people disappear who seemed to be in their way. Of course noone dared to accuse them of anything, but it was a simple fact that Lionel's business partners were either on his side... or not on any side at all.

Lois Lane, however, had looked him straight in the eye and still she hadn't seemed afraid. Instead she'd been sarcastic and quick at repartee, almost making him laugh in the process. He wasn't sure what that meant though. Either she was a very brave person... or a very silly one.

Whichever it was, he was going to meet her again, soon. First, however, he was going to learn every single thing there was to know about her.

He had just realized that being around Lois Lane to steal her research would not simply be an ordeal he had to go through in order to find out what Lionel was hiding... no, it was going to be fun.

"Hey Olsen, did you get some good pictures at the crime scene?" Lois asked the young man standing next to her, while she hurriedly typed something into her computer. "Sure did. But I recently heard of something way more interesting than a bank robbery."

Lois looked up at Jimmy Olsen, a good-natured young man who usually shot the photos for her articles. "Whatever would that be?" she asked, taking a bite of the maple doughnut that was lying on her desk.

"You crashing into someone that most people describe as tall, dark and handsome." Jimmy said, an amused smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Lois rolled her eyes while she swallowed. "Wherever did you hear of that?"

Jimmy laughed and sat down on the edge of her desk. "A certain female reporter told me to 'always protect my source'. So what was that all about? I heard you ran into him like a freight train and fled after only a minute as if the devil himself was chasing you... Care to comment on that?"

"The devil himself? Nice way to put it, Olsen. Last time I checked most people agreed on Clark Luthor being his best friend."

Now it was Jimmy's turn to roll his eyes. "Subtle, subtle, Lois, but I'm still catching that you're trying to change the subject." Lois sighed and took another bite of her doughnut, chewed and swallowed before she spoke.

"Fine, here goes: I ran into him, yes, though I have to say that I sure as hell was no 'freight train'. The guy didn't even seem like _anything_ had bumped into him, much less a train. He didn't say much and I was in a hurry to get back to 'The Planet'. End of story." Jimmy recognized Lois' extremely irritated tone and held out his hands in a defensive gesture.

"Alright, don't bite my head off. But why would Clark Luthor be at the scene of a robbery... it's not exactly his cup of tea." Lois frowned at that. Jimmy was right. Clark Luthor was no goody-goody and he sure hadn't shown up at any of the other crime scenes. Why had he been there?

"I don't remember the Luthors having any connections with the bank..." Jimmy added, hopping off Lois' desk. Lois grinned.

"Well that's just the thing, Olsen." she said as she turned back to her computer. "Memories fade but a Google search never forgets."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It was already dark outside when Lois left 'The Daily Planet' to go home. It had been a busy news day and she had had her hands full at work. Nevertheless she was not satisfied. Her little search about Luthor had had her coming up empty-handed.

Olsen's statement about why Clark Luthor would have been there had given her a weird feeling. And if he really had no connection with the bank than his appearance there really did seem rather strange. A guy like him wouldn't have simply walked by.

People with money and power always had somewhere to be or something to do and even if they had some time off they wouldn't just be walking the streets of Metropolis. No, Lois' instincts as a reporter were telling her that there was something more to this.

That, however, scared the hell out of her. She had been investigating something concerning the Luthors lately and she couldn't help but wonder if Clark Luthor's appearance could have anything to do with that.

Three weeks ago Lois had received an anonymous message that had told her that there had been more about Lilian Luthor's death than the world knew. Right now the world believed that Lilian Luthor had had a horrible accident in her own home when she had tripped on her way down the stairs.

Her source, however, claimed Mrs. Luthor's death had been far from being an 'accident'. At first Lois hadn't been sure whether or not she should investigate the matter, but – as always – her curiosity had gotten the best of her.

She wanted to find out who had sent her that message – and whether or not the claim of her secret source hit home. Though Lois had tried to be as careful as possible, maybe the Luthors had gotten wind of her little investigation. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought.

That wasn't good. Noone involved himself with Luthor business and got away unscathed. Why again did she always have to stick her nose where it didn't belong? The General had warned her more than once that 'curiosity killed the cat' when he had found her snooping around the base, trying to hear about one of their missions.

She smiled at the memory of her father when suddenly she heard a noise behind her.

'Oh, this is so not happening!' Clark thought as he watched four men approach Lois Lane from the shadows. Normally he wouldn't really care. Things like this happened all the time. If Lionel had taught him anything then it was that the world in itself was bad, that everyone was out to get you and that the only one you should care about was yourself.

Every other person was going to stab you in the back anyway.

But right now he needed Lois Lane, or more accurately: her research. And he didn't want to see his new source of entertainment killed so soon. Originally his plan had been to follow her home and 'accidentally' meet her in front of her apartment. He had planned to start a conversation, about the robbery or something else – the topic didn't matter.

He would have tried to weep his way into her life, until he found out where she kept the files connected with her investigation about his mother's death.

Well, now he would have to make a different approach. He watched as Lois Lane turned around and looked at the men behind her. "You have got to be kidding me! Seriously? Listen, guys: Official warning - I'm a third degree black belt. That means I can't be held liable for any funeral costs."

The men laughed, the sound echoing off the stone walls of the alley. "Whatever you say, sugar." one of them said and the other snickered.

"Oh, don't you 'sugar' me! Why don't you and your friends find yourselves someone else on who's nerves you can get!" Lois retorted, her demeanor annoyed.

"But you're the one we wanna... play with." Suddenly they attacked, all of them pouncing on Lois as if she were a bunny among wolves.

Lois hit one of the men in the face, snapping his head back, when Clark thought that it was time to intervene. In a split second he had one of the men lying on the ground, unconscious. When he turned around to get another man off Lois, he saw something that made him stand still.

The fist of one of the men collided with Lois' cheek, sending her flying back a few feet... and giving Clark a feeling he'd never had before.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Lois' head snapped back and her vision blurred when the fist of one of the men connected with her cheekbone. She staggered backwards, pain exploding in her brain as her synapses fired. She blinked a couple of times, trying to get her vision back.

When she finally began to see clearly again she wasn't sure that she was seeing_ right_. The men who had attacked her were lying on the ground and Clark Luthor stood above them, glaring down. His jaw was locked and his facial muscles didn't relax when he laid eyes on her face.

Their eyes met and she couldn't quite tell why, but his gaze was intense, almost like it was burning her. Silence stretched between them, the only sound her heavy breathing as she was still trying to get her bearings.

Suddenly the man she had hit first began to stir. However, before Clark could even get to him, Lois had already kicked his head, rendering him unconscious once more. "Bloody bastard." she murmured, looking at the man on the ground, then at Clark Luthor.

"Thanks for the... assistance."

Clark couldn't tear his gaze from the cut on Lois' cheek. The man had cut her flesh with his ring when he had hit her, leaving a red line on her face that had started bleeding slightly. The sight disturbed him, though he did not exactly know why.

He had seen worse things happen to people... hell, he had _done_ worse things to people but still seeing her being attacked had done something to him. For a second he had felt that he had to... protect her? That was beyond ridiculous. He was Clark Luthor; he cared about nothing and nobody.

He was aware of the silence that had formed after she'd kicked one of the scumbags on the ground and shook himself to get out of his trance.

"Are you alright?" he asked, a question he had heard people ask hundreds of times, but at the same time a question that had never left his own lips. He usually didn't care enough to ask about anyone well-being.

"Me? I'm fine. Getting attacked by thugs is my way of living La Vida Loca." she replied, but her voice sounded a little shaky, a hundred and eighty degree turn from this morning.

Clark gave her a once over and then decided on what to do. "Give me a second." he said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

Two minutes and a phone call to the police department of Metropolis later he hung up again and looked at Lois. It was strange. Normally he couldn't have cared less whether or not those guys were out there attacking people, but for some reason leaving them here to wake up in a couple of minutes and leave simply seemed... wrong. Whatever that meant.

"I'll take you home." Clark said and walked towards Lois. She looked up at him, seemingly bewildered. "I can take myself home." she replied, apparently startled by the offer.

He looked her in the eyes, making his tone as hard as steel. "I'm taking you home." She nodded once. For some reason he knew that normally she wouldn't let herself be pushed around by anyone, but she was shaken from the recent events, whether she wanted to admit that or not.

They started walking in the direction Lois had been heading before the interruption of her walk home. "You're quite bossy." Lois murmured after a few minutes of silence. "Probably normal for a guy of your status. Speaking of status, how come you're even in an alley like that, don't people like you usually go for rides in fancy limousines or a Porsche or something? At least that's what's common. Knocking those guys out like that sure didn't seem like the usual rich boy one-oh-one either..."

Clark had to keep himself from smiling at the way she babbled. "You talk a lot." he noted, giving her an amused glance. "Well, I'm just not very comfortable with uncomfortable silence and you're not exactly keeping up with your end of the conversation." she shot back and he noticed that she actually did seem kind of nervous. She had been rubbing her hands against each other or fumbling with the sleeves of her jacket ever since they had started walking.

"So what do you want to talk about, then?" he asked, almost eager for her reply.


	6. Chapter 6

_Thank you for your reviews! __I try to update fast because I know how much I hate having to wait for new chapters!_

**Chapter 6**

"Okay, here goes: Why are you out here, Mr. Luthor?" Lois asked, looking at the man who was apparently a big part of the reason why she had no more injuries than the punch to her face.

Though Clark Luthor was about six and a half feet tall she wouldn't have thought that he'd be able to knock out those guys so easily. Being a third degree black belt herself, she knew that fighting wasn't simply about height and weight. It was about technique, too.

In order to knock them out he would have to know where and how to hit them, especially since he'd done it in a matter of seconds. It kind of made her wonder where someone like Clark Luthor had learned something like that.

"First of all: Call me Clark. Second, I was just taking a walk. I hate being surrounded by security guards and I take every opportunity I can to get away from them. Growing up on military bases, being surrounded by the watchful eyes of soldiers all the time... maybe you can relate."

"Well, yeah it wasn't always easy but... wait a second. How did you know where I grew up?" Lois asked, her head whipping around to look at him. It wasn't exactly like she'd ever tried to hide that fact about her life, but they had first met this morning and they hadn't had an actual conversation until now.

"You're the one who said that your father is a general... made me curious." he answered, giving her an amused look. That look reminded Lois of her little outburst from this morning.

"About this morning... I was kind of irritated at the moment and not really on my best behavior. In my defense, I hadn't had my daily two cups of coffee yet and that always makes me grumpy." She couldn't exactly tell the guy that she had been irritated that his gorgeous looks and amazing voice had turned her into some swooning bimbo for a second.

Besides, everything that she had just said was true, she was just leaving out a few details.

It was only then that something registered in her brain. "Wow, wait a second. What do you mean by 'curious'?" He just gave her an amused look. "You researched me?" She had to chew on that for a second.

"Since you're a reporter I am pretty much convinced that you have done the same, Miss Lane."

Clark watched as a quick smile flashed across her face. "Well, yeah, I kind of did that. Didn't come up with anything good, though. The news-world thinks that you've got a bright future ahead of you as the future head of Luthorcorp, though. What a destiny..."

Clark's expression darkened. How he hated that word. "Destiny's just another word for not having a choice." he said. He'd learned it the hard way. The endless lectures his father had given him throughout his life...

He shook his head. He didn't want his thoughts to drift into that direction. For some odd reason he was enjoying talking to Lois Lane and a second ago his mood had been better than it had been for months... maybe even years.

"Wow, that almost sounds like someone's not eager to take over the family business... And here I always thought that it was every guy's dream to rule the world." Clark laughed at her statement, but there was no real humor in it.

"My father sure is like that." he said, wondering how much he could actually share with this woman walking beside him. It was strange, talking to someone who didn't mean to do business with him. This was probably the first normal conversation he had had after leaving boarding school – after he had been thrust into a world full of people who were after his money and power. Every human he had met since then had either been trying to use him as a player on their chess board or had cowered before him in fear, doing whatever they could to please him.

He had enjoyed the later at first but it got... tiresome. People became predictable and he soon got tired of those who treated him like royalty. He sighed. And they didn't even know about the _real_ power he possessed.

Lois raised an eyebrow at him. "Doesn't exactly sound like 'Daddy Dearest' makes the Top Ten of your list of favorite people"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Clark Luthor studied her for a second and his former rather friendly expression turned serious. "Be careful, Miss Lane. You don't want to get involved in Luthor business. Never wound something you can't kill."

A shiver ran down Lois' spine and she wondered what kind of a man she was walking next to. He had seemed perfectly nice after the.. 'encounter' in the alley, but right now she saw another side of him. He looked like the kind of man that had seen very dark places of the earth... and had survived them.

However, they had turned him into a man harder than most... and very possible capable of extreme cruelty. She had seen soldiers with that look, soldiers who'd had to decide whether it would be them or their enemies who'd live... and as was the human instinct, they had chosen themselves.

She wondered what could have happened to a man of Clark Luthor's status. Judging from the reaction to the mentioning of Lionel Luthor, however, she could guess that his father had something to do with it.

'Curiosity killed the cat, Lois. You're not in the position to be able to ask him about it.' she thought, reminding herself of the lectures her father had given her while she'd lived on the base.

His words also made her palms sweat for a very different reason. It was quite possible that he was not only talking about her question concerning his father, but also about her investigation regarding Lilian Luthor's death.

Maybe it wasn't that wise an idea to keep up with that investigation after all, even though she had found something she considered to be quite interesting...

Clark watched as understanding seemed to dawn on Lois Lane's features. He wondered why he'd even gone out of his way to warn her. After all, the fact that she had somehow involved herself in Luthor business was why he was talking to her right now. It was what he needed her for.

As he watched Lois' process his statement, he realized that she was... pretty. Beautiful, actually. She wasn't dressed like the women he was used to, didn't wear glamorous clothing, expensive jewelery or pricy perfume, but she had style. A style that didn't beg for men's attention, but a style that had personality.

She had a great figure and beautiful, light green eyes mixed with gray. Her dark brown hair fell about her shoulders in soft waves. Her lips were a beautiful shade of...

Suddenly Lois stopped walking and he realized that they had reached the building her apartment was in. "Thank you for walking me home..." she made a short pause and he knew she had been about to say 'Mr. Luthor'. "Clark."

He smiled. He liked the way she said his name. It was somehow different from how other people said it... there were no expectations in her voice or warnings as was so often the case with his father. There was no fear or cowardly respect in the way she said it, either.

A blaring sound interrupted his thoughts. A few seconds later police cars came speeding around the corner of the street, driving past them. He watched as Lois flinched at the noise they made and looked after them with eyes that seemed... afraid. She gulped.

"There sure have been a lot of crimes lately." she murmured, tugging a strand of hair behind her ear as she fumbled for her key. He could see that she felt uneasy and he could hear her heart racing. He supposed, being a normal human with so many vulnerabilities and considering what had happened to her tonight, she had a good reason to be frightened.

He was not someone who cared much about others, Lionel had raised him not to be. So instead of considering that he might not want to leave her alone, he told himself that this was an opportunity. An opportunity to get closer to the reporter who was investigating his mother's death. An opportunity to find out what exactly it was Lionel Luthor was trying to hide from him.

So he stepped forward, touched her arm and looked into her eyes. Practicing the art of deception his father had taught him, making her believe he was some nice guy and not someone who was just trying to achieve his own goals. "Do you want me to come inside?"


	8. Chapter 8

_Thank you so much cathy03! It's rare that people take the time to write not only one review but two! Here's the next chapter! Please enjoy and tell me what you think!_

_(I also corrected some of the typos I made in the last chapter, sorry for those ;P)_

**Chapter 8**

Lois' head snapped up and she looked into the eyes of the man who was standing so close to her, she could almost feel his breath on her cheek.

"What?" she asked, startled and not really sure she had heard him right. A quick smile flashed across his face, but it vanished so quickly that she wasn't even sure she had truly seen it.

"Do you want me to come inside, Lois? You have been through a lot tonight and it would be perfectly sensible for you to feel... uncomfortable at the thought of being alone." he answered, the expression on his face somewhat concerned, but Lois couldn't quite shake the feeling that his face wasn't as... honest as it had been a few seconds ago.

She ignored that he had used her name so casually as if they were old friends instead of new acquaintances and focused on what he had said.

"Wow, hold it. Is this your big master-plan? Saving the damsel in distress and then trying to pull a '9 ½ weeks' in her apartment? You are seriously mistaking, buddy, if you – for even a second – think that I don't know what kind of a game you're playing."

She pointed a finger at him and glared. Which probably would have seemed more impressive if he hadn't been a head taller than her.

"I'm no hopeless pushover. Besides, I am about as attracted to you as a Red Sox fan to the Yankees." Okay, the last part was actually a blatant lie, because she could definitely see why so many women tripped over their own feet to get even a chance of being with Clark Luthor. But she'd be damned before she let her hormones get one over self-respect.

While she'd been ranting Clark Luthor had drawn his brows together and let go of her arm... but there had also been more than one amused smile that had shown on his face. Something that greatly aggravated her. He wasn't taking her seriously.

"I am sorry, Lois. I didn't mean to give you the wrong impression. I wasn't trying to... how did you put it? 'Pull a '9 ½ weeks' in your apartment'. I was simply trying to help."

She snorted, not quite believing him. "I have heard of your reputation, Clark Luthor. You're not exactly a monk. Quite the opposite, actually." Rumors about him having another woman every night... or more than one.

"I am sorry, Lois, but am I to be held responsible for the rumors other people create? My intentions were far from what you're thinking... to be honest, I haven't thought about you that way at all."

Lois tried to keep her face neutral as her ego took a hit... from a freight train. Man, being thought of as some easy-to-get bimbo was something that riled her greatly, but hearing that he didn't even wish for her to be an easy-to-get bimbo? That hurt... _and_ it made her feel like she had just made a complete fool out of herself.

She took a breath. She sure as hell was not going to admit that.

"Whatever. I am still not going to let you in. I..." That's when she saw a guy across the street, watching her and Clark. He was dressed in dark clothing and he looked like someone who lived on the streets or at the very least hadn't exactly cracked the jackpot with his life. What made her heart sink, however, was that he looked a lot like one of the men from the alley.

"On second thought..." she said and grabbed Clark's hand, pulling him inside "...come on in."

Clark let himself be dragged inside, watching Lois as she closed the door to the building and made her way up the stairs to her apartment. He had seen the way she had looked at the man across the street and – though for a second he had believed otherwise, as she'd delivered one of the most quick-witted speeches he had ever heard from a woman – he knew that she was afraid of being alone.

An evil smile spread on his face as Lois opened the door to her apartment. He had gotten his way and that was all that mattered. He was going to spend the night with Lois Lane.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Clark surveyed his surroundings, taking in all the details. It was a habit of his to study people and it was rather easy to learn something about a person by looking at the way they lived.

Unbidden the image of his father rose in his mind.

_Lionel Luthor was sitting behind his desk, his elbows resting on top of its dark wooden surface. His fingertips touched each other lightly as he held his hands in front of his face. _

_Clark was only a boy, merely seven years old at the time, and his father appeared to be bigger, more powerful... more frightening._

"_Have you deepened your knowledge?" Lionel asked, his eyes like that of a vulture as he watched Clark. Lionel was talking about a conversation they had had the night before at dinner. Lionel had asked Clark if he understood why the city Troy had fallen and Clark – completely unfamiliar with Homer's creation – had answered truthfully._

_He had said that he had no knowledge of this city called 'Troy'... and so his father had sent him away before he could even begin to eat... in order to educate himself. Which was exactly what Clark had done. It wasn't wise to disobey his father, after all._

"_Yes. I now know the answer to your question." Clark said, his gaze focused on the glass wall behind Lionel. His father nodded and his eyes turned contemplative. _

"_You know, Clark... Knowledge comes from finding the answers, yes, but understanding what the answers mean is what brings wisdom. Men who didn't understand the difference have been the ruin of some of the world's greatest civilizations. Always remember that."_

Clark shook his head, banning the image of his father from his mind. He had always hated the lectures Lionel gave him every opportunity he got.

He focused on Lois, realizing that it was a rather easy thing to do. She was an interesting person, someone that could take his mind off his father so easily it was amazing.

"Is this the apartment of your dreams?" he asked, looking around. It wasn't _that_ bad... if you liked living in a place with bad heat insulation, second-hand furniture and a crappy view.

"Wow, look at Mr. Funny... Does this look like it would be anyone's dream?" Lois answered, rolling her eyes at him. Clark shrugged, taking off his coat.

"Well, I have never been a rat before..."

Lois watched as Clark Luthor revealed the dark blue shirt he was wearing underneath his black coat and wondered how a rich boy – who she had thought had spend most of his days learning how to do business and enjoying the pleasures of being rich – had gotten such an amazing physique.

At first she had thought that he had shoulder pads in his coat, but seeing him in the shirt made her realize that he... didn't. "Focus, Lois. You've already done quite enough to embarrass yourself." she thought, giving herself a shake. She better answer his comment if she didn't want to seem like a complete nutcase.

"Yeah, funny coincidence. Me neither. At least not that I can remember." He looked her up and down. "Are you a religious person, Lois?" She grinned and gestured for him to take a seat on her couch. Him simply standing there in the middle of the room was making her tense, but she was trying to hide it.

"I guess I walked right into that one, didn't I? Well, I am more the scientific kind of person and usually I trust hard facts more than make-believe stories... but I'm not denying that there might be something bigger than us out there." she answered, noticing that Clark Luthor was watching her intently.

"What about you?" she questioned, though already guessing the answer. He just looked at her, a slight smile on his lips. It was the kind of smile an old man would give a small child that was still oblivious to the world. She nodded.

"I thought so. Most men with your status believe in hard proof only. Or they go overboard and turn crazy." Clark laughed at that and the sound send warm shivers down Lois' spine. "My father always says that when you're rich, you're not crazy. You're _eccentric__." he said and got up from the couch._

_"It's getting late, Miss Lane. I'm sure you have a day full of work ahead of you. You should go to bed." Lois watched him as he walked toward her. He didn't stop until they were standing only a few feet apart. "Don't worry" he said, laying one of his big, warm hands on her shoulder "I'll be right here."_


	10. Chapter 10

_Thank you all for your lovely reviews! Here's the daily update; enjoy and please be so kind and tell me what you think!  
><em>

**Chapter 10**

Clark Luthor watched as Lois' eyes widened at his statement. He smiled, trying to make himself seem reassuring and non-threatening. "Don't worry, I won't do anything you don't want me to do." he assured her, making his voice gentle.

"That might just be the problem." Lois whispered, her voice so quiet a human probably would not have been able to hear her. But he wasn't human. He was kryptonian and his hearing was _far_ more advanced than any human's.

He smiled at her words, but his smile faded as he remembered the truth: it wasn't _him_ she was attracted to, but simply the person he was playing. The Clark Luthor she knew was nothing more than a person he had just created, a person that merely existed so that he, the real Clark Luthor, would be able to get what he wanted.

Somehow as he stood next to Lois, he almost felt bad for being the person he usually was. Normally he'd lie, steal or do whatever else it took to get what he wanted. He was lying to her right now, if he were honest with himself. Lois Lane, or at least the Lois Lane he had met today, was many things – bossy, nosy, some might consider her rude – but she was no bad person.

She was quick-witted, intelligent, funny and proud. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to play her like this... then he shook his head. What was he thinking? This wasn't like him. He never backed down once he had set a goal for himself. And right now his goal was to get the information she had uncovered. End of story.

He could hear another bunch of sirens approaching and decided to use that fact to his advantage. "If you'd rather have me leave..." he started and as planned his words were interrupted by the blaring sound from outside. The sound made her flinch and brought back her earlier fear. It was so intense that it was almost a tangible thing.

"No, you know... I wouldn't want you to be out there right now... it seems to be even less save tonight than it was the past few weeks. I would feel guilty if you got killed, especially after you saved me tonight so..." Lois said quickly, her eyes following the movements of the light of the sirens that still shone onto the walls of the house opposite her apartment.

Clark knew what she was doing. Apparently, Lois Lane hated to be thought of as weak... so she camouflaged all symptoms of fear. Which absolutely worked for him as long as it got her to want him to stay.

However the thought of a human being able to inflict harm on him was hilarious. He could so clearly picture a man who tried to shoot or stab him... and he could also picture that man's horrified face as he realized that his assault – possibly fatal to a normal human – didn't even do so much as tickle Clark.

Lionel had often told him that he was a god among men. And though Clark found some of Lionel's lectures questionable, he didn't challenge this statement... because it was the truth.

Clark could run faster than the speed of sound, see through solid objects, hear a dog bark from ten miles away and many more things that humans could only do so much as dream of.

The one ability that made him like a god, though, - and probably the ability that made Lionel Luthor fear him and worry about Clark's every move – was his strength. Clark was stronger than a speeding locomotive, his body more durable than steel. Nothing and noone was capable of bringing him to his knees.

He was not going to share his little secret with the woman standing in front of him, though. "Yeah, it would be a real pity for the heir of Luthorcorp to get gutted right in front of your apartment, wouldn't it?" he asked instead.

"Yeah." Lois said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear nervously "Would be a real bummer."

* * *

><p>Lois tried to control her heartbeat as she looked at Clark Luthor. First her heart had been racing due to the fear she had experienced at the noise of the sirens, now her heart was racing because of his closeness. Having his broad chest right in front of her face certainly didn't help to quiet down her frantic heart.<p>

His close proximity brought another question to her mind, though. If she wasn't going to send him away, then he was going to have to sleep in her apartment... which had a rather small couch – and only one bed.


	11. Chapter 11

_Here's the next chapter! I hope you'll like it! Please review so I'll know what your thoughts on this chapter are!_

**Chapter 11**

Lois cleared her throat and took a step back. She didn't know what exactly it was that tall-dark-and-handsome was doing to her, but it sure as hell was wreaking her senses. She needed to regain some control over the situation ASAP.

"Well, since we're both grown-ups I think we can manage sharing a bed." she said and started walking into the direction of the bedroom.

"Not worried that I'll try to strip you off your virtue anymore?" Clark Luthor asked, the humor in his voice barely contained. She gave him a partly sarcastic, partly annoyed look. Anything to hide her embarrassment.

"Is it just me or did you just miraculously develop a sense of humor?" Lois questioned while she opened the white door that led to her bedroom.

Her apartment really wasn't much, she had always known that, but having someone who owned as much money as Clark Luthor in it kind of made that fact seem like a big white elephant. Her bedroom consisted of one bed that, luckily for her, was big enough for two people. Besides that, however, there wasn't much inside. A nightstand and a closet, a mirror and a couple of other decorations and photographs.

She could so clearly envision his bedroom in the Luthor Mansion which was famous for its beautiful construction. His bedroom was probably bigger than her whole apartment and the bed inside was likely to be big, maybe a canopy bed, covered in expensive sheets. Lois could almost see the plush carpet on the floor, the big windows framed by beautiful curtains...

Yeah, she and Clark Luthor really matched... like a hamster and a grizzly bear.

"You don't think I'm a humorous person?" Clark asked, pulling her out of her thoughts and into the present. "No, no, I'm sure you're a real jokester, the comedy highlight of every party." Clark Luthor laughed.

"I'm not sure, but I think I'm detecting a certain note of sarcasm here. Honestly, Lois, what makes you think I'm not more of a jester in my free time?"

Truth be told, Clark Luthor _was_ no jester. Then again, he hadn't really been himself tonight, at least not completely, so he was curious why Lois Lane didn't think that he was the fun-loving type.

"I don't know... maybe it's the fact that you escape from your own bodyguards at night to walk the streets of Metropolis when there's so much crime in the city. Or perhaps I guessed from the way you took those guys down in a matter of seconds. There are always the exceptions to the rule, but normally the happy-go-lucky type doesn't do either, so..."

Lois trailed off, leaving her sentence unfinished. He walked into her small bedroom and watched as she walked over to her closet. He leaned against the door frame and for a reason unknown to him he told her something... personal.

"It's probably true. My father was never the 'happy-go-lucky' type, either. When I was six he locked me inside a small room for three hours as punishment for playing with the kids of one of our servants. He thought it was beneath me to do so."

Lois stopped going through her closet and turned around to look at him. Her brows were drawn as she studied him. For her it probably sounded awful to lock up a child in a small room... and she didn't even know that the room had been filled with green meteor rock.

"Wow. That sounds like years of therapy waiting to happen." she commented, somehow, thanks to her unique character, keeping the atmosphere rather light. With her statement she gave him the opportunity to either pursue or change the subject. He decided for the latter.

"Well, he was never exactly 'daddy dearest'. What about your dad? With him being a four-star general... makes me wonder if he was ever hard on you." Clark replied and Lois turned back to her closet.

"He sure liked to give me advice... always army-related, of course. He was busy a lot, but all things considered he was always a great father. I had to look after my little sister a lot, though."

"Lucy." he said, recalling the name of Lois' sister. Lois closed the closet, two pairs of long sweat pants, a T-shirt and a tank top in hand.

"Seems like you looked up more than just my relationship with the General. What did you do? Read my whole family tree?" She didn't give him a chance to answer but threw one pair of sweat pants and the T-Shirt at him.

"Strip."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Lois had been about to turn around and leave the room when Clark Luthor started unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a muscled, tanned chest. Her heart started racing and her throat seemed to be blocked for a second. Then she regained the power to think.

"What the hell are you doing, Chippendale?" she asked, taking a step back. Clark Luthor raised his eyebrows.

"You're the one who told me to 'strip'." he answered and Lois could hear in his voice that he was faking the innocent look he gave her. Clark Luthor knew fully well how great his body was and what an effect he had on females. He also knew how to use this fact to his advantage.

At that moment Lois realized something. Clark Luthor had a plan; there was something he wanted or needed from her and he was using his charms to get it.

The first thought that came to her mind was that maybe he was interested in her and wanted to get her into his bed. He might have said that he didn't see her that way, but he wouldn't be the first guy who had lied in order to get the girl.

But Lois wasn't stupid. She also knew that there was a distinct possibility that Clark Luthor wanted something entirely different from her. She didn't know what that was yet, but she was sure that there was more to Clark Luthor than the person she had met tonight.

"Yes, I said that, but you might as well wait for me to leave the room, Romeo. Don't you have that bizarre little thing that normal people call 'modesty'?"

Clark grinned, showing her his perfectly white teeth. "I'm sorry, Lois. Does it bother you to see me half naked?" Lois snorted. "Believe it or not, Prince Charming, but I have seen my fair share of naked men. So seeing you only half clothed is not exactly a newsflash to my feminine sensibilities."

Clark could clearly see that she wasn't telling the whole truth. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and thanks to his heightened senses he could hear that her heart was beating faster than normal.

Still something about what she had said set ill with him. The thought of her being with another man somehow made something clench in his stomach. The mental picture he got seemed... wrong.

Which was weird for someone like him. Clark never cared if one of the women he slept with decided to share the bed with another man. Basically, because he never slept with the same woman twice.

His father had taught him not to get attached to anything and until now he'd never had the feeling that he was missing out on anything while he'd kept himself aloof from others.

Then again he couldn't remember talking to anyone like he did with Lois. It made him feel almost... human. Clark shook his head, getting rid of the thought. He wasn't human, he was better than.

And it didn't matter if Lois had been with other men. She wasn't his goal; her research was. Which meant that he had to keep going with his charade.

"Well, whether it's a newsflash to your feminine sensibilities or not: If you want me to change without it turning into some kind of striptease, then you either have to turn around or leave the room, Lois." he said, putting one of his hands hand on his belt in order to tell her that he was going to get changed whether she was there or not.

He was half amused, half disappointed when she fled the room without another word.

Clark never fell asleep. He waited until Lois' breath turned even as she lay in bed next to him, signaling that she had finally fallen into a deep slumber.

When Lois had returned to her bedroom earlier, dressed in her pajamas, he had already been lying in bed, pretending to sleep. He had thought that if she believed that he was asleep she would fall asleep more quickly. He hadn't been completely right, though.

Lois had seemed restless for nearly half an hour. She had kept shifting and she had mumbled a little about 'not being ridiculous' and it 'not being the first time she slept next to a guy'.

It should have annoyed him, for it kept him from being able to get up and do what he planned to to, but he had been somewhat amused by her behavior.

Now, however, it was time. Time to search through Lois Lane's apartment.


	13. Chapter 13

_Here's the new chapter! No, __clarkfan325, I didn't plan on him yet finding what he was looking for^^ that truly would be a bummer... no I have some other things in mind for Clark Luthor and Lois Lane... I also changed it to Clark L.! Thanks for that I somehow didn't see it!_

_Now this chapter is going to be slightly different from the others because it only stars Clark, but I think writing this chapter was quite necessary for the continuation of the story!_

_Please enjoy and leave a review!^^_

**Chapter 13**

Clark left Lois' bedroom as quietly as he could, which meant that no human could possibly have heard him move. With the lights turned off in the living area the only thing illuminating the room was the faint glow of the moon that shone through the windows.

The place looked almost ghostly with only this little light and the noise of the sirens that still sounded from outside every now and then probably would have made the whole atmosphere frightening to most people.

Clark Luthor couldn't have cared less. He only scanned the room for places where Lois Lane might keep her research.

There was a small dining table, with barely enough space for four people and a counter near the kitchen niche. However, there was no real place to sit down and work, no desk with drawers to keep paperwork in.

There was a filing cabinet close to the couch, however, so that's where Clark began with his search. He could have used his super-speed to sort through whatever was inside more quickly, but he chose to move at a normal human pace.

He went through all the files for almost an hour, but only found various insurance papers, photographs and several bank statements. The latter at least held some kind of interest for him, though he could have easily gotten the answer to Lois Lane's finances himself, had he been of a mind to.

Lois couldn't exactly be called poor, but she was couldn't be called well-off, either. Not simply in Clark Luthor's estimation, but rather in anyone's estimation, really.

Her apartment seemed to reflect that. Clark frowned. He would have thought that someone who wrote so many successful articles for 'The Daily Planet' would get a better pay...

His train of thought was interrupted when he finally found something that was part of her research... but not the research concerning his mother's death. At the very top of the files inside the folder he had opened while thinking about Lois' payment at 'The Daily Planet' was a picture of a symbol. A symbol he knew all too well... because it was him who had created it.

The black symbol consisted of a pentagon which held the capital letter 'U' in it. The sign of 'Ultraman'...

The symbol on the picture had been burned into a wall somewhere in Metropolis and it could have been just some other graffiti in the city... if there hadn't been a certain meaning attached to it.

Clark read about that meaning as he lifted the photo and found several articles underneath.

In a way, all were different, yet somehow, they were the same. Every last one of them described the destruction and chaos that the arrival of the 'phantom that raged through Metropolis like the Black Death' – as it was phrased in one of the articles – had brought upon the city.

The articles described murders and wondered about the mysterious and terrifying symbol that had started appearing all over the city. They wondered how it was possible for something like this to happen, for the law enforcement to have no way of making a stand against this new threat.

It was especially baffling to the people for it hadn't simply been ordinary citizens that had been killed. Most of the murders were connected to rich businessmen, businessmen who would do everything in their power, pay as much was necessary, in order to find the killer that mocked their company.

The normal articles weren't what caught Clark's eye, however. It was a letter to the editor printed in one edition of 'The Daily Planet' that caught his attention.

_'I'm scared. Going out at night seems almost like an impossible thing to do. After work I get home as fast as I can. I pray that we will one day be save again. May God protect us.'_

It was short and the sentences were clipped, but the emotions inside the words were a tangible thing for Clark... a tangible thing that made his gut clench.

Creating Ultraman had been his final attempt of proving to his father – and himself – that he could be every bit as calculating and vicious as his father. He had tried to surpass Lionel Luthor by using his unique abilities, had tried to show Lionel that he was strong – not only physically, but mentally. Strong enough to kill without remorse, to kill and not give a second thought to it – as Lionel Luthor so clearly did.

But he had been wrong. He wasn't strong enough. Ever since his invention of Ultraman, ever since he had heard those businessmen – colleagues of his father, men that he _knew _had killed themselves – scream at him and beg him to spare them, he kept having nightmares. Nightmares of how the life left their eyes...

He looked up from the newspaper articles and caught his own reflection in a mirror on the opposite wall. He saw his own face, the face of the good-looking male that he was. He looked so human, there, in that mirror. But he knew that, deep down, he was a monster.


	14. Chapter 14

_Here's the next chapter! It's a little longer than usual, but I guess that's only fair since the update took me a little longer!** Enjoy and please Review!  
><strong>_

**Chapter 14**

Clark closed the folder and put it back into the filing cabinet. It didn't really matter; over the years he had figured that anyone who was raised by Lionel Luthor was bound to become somewhat of a monster sooner or later.

But for better or worse, Lionel Luthor was still his father.

He lifted his head from the sight of the filing cabinet and looked at the door that lead to Lois' bedroom. His actions and his behavior were his to live with, but after meeting Lois that day... he didn't want her to get sucked into Luthor business and definitely not without protection.

She seemed to possess a great inner spirit, a positive energy that made the world seem just a little brighter. Clark had seen enough darkness in the world to know how important a person like this was to the world.

In that moment Clark decided that he was going to keep an eye on Lois Lane. His short time as Ultraman had taught him that he was incapable of becoming his father since he was unable to mete out the same amount of cruelty without inflicting damage on his own mind.

Therefore he had to set a new path for himself, a path that may not be right for his father, one that had nothing to do with Luthorcorp... but a path that was right for _him_.

And as he looked at one of the photographs that hung on the walls, one that showed Lois with her father and sister, he knew that his decision was... _right_.

When Lois' alarm clock went off she lazily hit the snooze-button. It took her a few seconds to remember what had happened the night before, but when she recalled she shot upright and looked to her side.

The space in bed beside her, however, was empty. Clark Luthor was gone.

Lois frowned and massaged her temple with one hand. "What's more likely, Lois? That you had a billionaire playboy sleeping in your bed or that you hit your head, had a wild dream or something else of the sort?" she thought as she got up and walked into her living room.

The very first thing she needed was a nice cup of coffee or else she was never going to get her brain to function. When she reached the kitchen niche she spotted a folded white paper on top of the counter, something that had her stop in her tracks.

She carefully took the piece of paper into her hands and began to read the few sentences that were written in an elegant script.

_Good Morning, Lois,_

_I had an early business meeting, which is why I had to leave early. I hope you had a good night of rest. Have a nice day at work and don't walk home late at night! Please call me if you are in any kind of trouble,_

_C.L._

Underneath the note there was a series of numbers, a phone number, no doubt. Lois read the note at least four times before she lay it back down on the counter top. She went through her daily routine in a strange kind of trance while she thought about the night before.

Well, the weird, allegedly make-believe story had suddenly knocked out common sense and taken over the boxing ring. Ding-ding.

What surprised Lois the most, however, was that he had left her with his phone number. Surely Clark Luthor wasn't the kind of guy to go around and hand his number to just anyone... so why her? Her suspicion from last night, the suspicion that there was something he wanted from her, came to her mind again, but she shook her head.

It didn't really matter. She wasn't stupid, she wasn't naive... and she wasn't going to call him. Besides, there were more pressing issues at hand. Lois took a look at the clock above the stove. For example how she was ever going to get to work on time.

Clark sat in his office chair, a glass of scotch in hand. Alcohol didn't really have much of an effect on him as he had never really gotten drunk, but at times he had the impression that it calmed him. He was glad that he held the glass in his hand as the door to his office in Luthorcorp opened and his father walked into the room.

"Clark, I have to talk to you!" Lionel said, locking his eyes on Clark's face. "I thought so when you came in here, Dad. After all, it is my office."

"Well, yes, son. It so happens that it came to my attention that you met a certain female reporter last night..." Lionel left his sentence unfinished and looked at Clark instead. Clark set his glass down on his desk and stood. He walked around his desk so that he was facing his father without any furniture in the way.

"I meet reporters all the time, Dad. It's part of being a Luthor, I guess. What's your point?" Clark deliberately played dumb as he wanted to see how important this matter was to his father. If the issue concerning Lois was of no great importance to him, then Lionel Luthor would let it slide, if not, however,...

"Don't play games with me, Clark." His father's voice was far from amused or even neutral. He was rather angered and maybe, somehow,... nervous. Bingo. Jackpot. There was something about his mother's death that Lionel didn't want him to know about, something that he was trying to hide from him. Not surprising, considering the amount of dirty secrets his father had, but Clark wouldn't have thought that there was anything more than an accident to his mother's death.

"Why, Dad?" Clark smiled at Lionel. "Games are all we've got." Lionel sighed. "You met Lois Lane, Clark. You can not expect me to believe that that fact has nothing to do with our little talk."

"It was just a coincidence, Dad. A chance meeting." His father raised an eyebrow at that. "And the fact that you actually spent at least some part of the night in her apartment was also merely by chance?"

Clark's hands clenched at that, but he managed to keep his face perfectly relaxed. He even managed to smile after a second. "Wow, Dad. Are you actually spying on me?" His father simply looked at him. Clark sighed, pretending to give in. Then he lied. "I came by while she was being mugged. She's pretty, so I may have taken advantage of her vulnerability and had a little fun with her later in her apartment. What's wrong with that?"

Lionel exhaled at that, something that was a sign of relief that a human might have been unable to catch up on. "Very well. Stay away from her, Clark. That reporter means a lot of trouble. You shouldn't see her again. She might try to exploit you in order to get information about Luthorcorp."

Lionel turned to leave. "No need to remind me, Dad. I'm not stupid."

Lionel turned around and looked at him. "I push you, Clark. I don't deny it. Greatness is a rarefied air one has to be taught to breathe... You know, Philip of Macedonia raised his son among lions to instill fearlessness in him."

Clark raised an eyebrow and gave his father an incredulous look. "Didn't he also try to impale the kid with a spear?" he asked, familiar with this little history lesson.

"Well, in an aborted coup attempt... But do you know as who that boy is remembered in history?" With Lionel Luthor as his father, it was impossible not to know. "Of course, Dad. Alexander the Great."


	15. Chapter 15

_Here's the new chapter! I'm sorry it took a little longer. _

_cathy03: Actually in the beginning I planned on such a meeting in the morning! But then I changed my mind because I want to try to pick up the pace a little and make things happen that are actually plot-related... But who knows, maybe u'll get a 'morning after'-scene later in the story! Oh and I'm pretty sure that there will be more UST, rest assured!^^_

_Please enjoy reading and review!_

**Chapter 15**

Lois sat at her desk at 'The Daily Planet', sipping at her coffee while she typed something into her computer. The story she was working on was not exactly the most interesting one. Her eyes flashed to her desk drawer, her thoughts drifting to another story, one that she would simply _love_ to get to the bottom of.

Suddenly her phone rang and Lois picked it up instantly. "Daily Planet. Lois Lane, your first choice in reporting."

"Wow, Lois. You really _are_ at the office." Lois smiled as she stopped typing and sat back in her chair. "Hi, cuz!"

Chloe Sullivan was her favorite cousin... well, she was also Lois' only cousin, but that was not the reason why she was so important to Lois. She and Chloe seemed to understand each other on a level that she had never quite reached with her sister Lucy and she was thankful that she had Chloe in her life.

Lois' forehead creased as she really registered what Chloe had said. "Why wouldn't I be at the office, Chlo?" There was a short pause at the other end of the line. "Well, a little birdie told me that you had a very unfortunate run-in last night... I thought that you might want to lay low for the day, but I probably should have known that Lois Lane was unlikely to give in to her more delicate traits."

"I'm an army brat, Chlo. Besides, if my dad fails to scare the living hell out of me then there is no way on earth that some weird muggers-to-be will get the job done... But, wait a second, what kind of birdie?"

"Lois, you as a reporter should know that one should always protect their source... and you should also know that the same source who gave me the info about you being attacked also told me who your unlikely savior was. Care to give me an explanation for why Metropolis' most eligible bachelor suddenly appeared in some dark alley to act as your knight in shining armor?"

Lois sighed. "He said something about being out on a walk. But it doesn't matter, Chlo. I'm never going to see him again anyway. You know how men like him are. He's exactly the kind of guy who tells you that he'll call but even in that moment he already knows that he won't."

She had started talking faster and faster... which she always did when she was agitated. Chloe immediately caught onto that. "Wow, Lois, that must have been some encounter. Sure he hasn't put you under his spell?"

Lois almost choked on her coffee had to cough a couple of times. "Easy with the pixie dust there, Tinkerbell! I am under no spell, whatsoever, much less Clark Luthor's! But I do, however, have a deadline to meet. I'll call you later!" And then Lois hung up before her cousin could make any other remarks.

Clark watched as Lois left 'The Daily Planet' in a hurry, the heels of her shoes making clicking sounds on the asphalt. He had been unsure whether or not Lois would actually use the number he had given her and call him and to his amusement she hadn't.

He had known that it would be very hard to determine Lois' actions and he was once again relieved that she did not seem to be the kind of person his father made her out to be.

She could have chosen to uphold their connection, had she called, and yet she had chosen not to. It proved that she was neither fishing for information about Luthorcorp, nor was she interested in befriending the Luthor-family and benefiting from their wealth.

Clark was about to follow her inconspicuously and wait for the perfect time to make his appearance, when he noticed something.

There was a man following close behind Lois, one that seemed to have waited for Lois outside 'The Daily Planet' just like Clark had. Clark shook his head. He was probably just imagining it.

A car was about to drive by Lois, who was walking on the very edge of the sidewalk to avoid running into people, when suddenly the man bumped into her, pushing her so hard that she lost her footing, fell from the sidewalk... and in front of the oncoming car.


	16. Chapter 16

****_Sorry the updat_e _a little longer than expected! Have fun reading and please leave a review!_

**Chapter 16**

Clark didn't have any time to think about what he was doing. He started running, seeing things as if they were moving in slow motion. He was across the street even before Lois had hit the ground. He came to a standstill on the sidewalk and caught her hand, yanking her back.

The world started moving faster again as her body crashed into his, save for the moment. Almost instinctively he put his free arm around her to keep her from falling backwards because of the impact.

Clark hadn't even realized that he had held his breath until he exhaled, the sounds of the traffic that had seemed all but gone before returned and his formerly locked jaw unclenched.

Suddenly Lois gasped for breath and he loosened his hold on her and took a step back, giving her the space to actually breathe and get a hold on the situation.

"What just happened?" she asked, looking around herself. Clark could hear her racing heart and could imagine the amount of adrenaline that had to be running through her system at that moment. Only a second ago her body had been nothing but a few inches away from suffering severe damage... Damage that could have very possibly killed her.

Which raised the question of why someone was trying to kill Lois Lane. He'd have to think through this later. He had to focus on Lois right now.

"Looks like you tripped. You're lucky I was there to pull you back. Seriously, Lois, you seem to be quite the trouble-magnet." Clark watched as Lois stopped looking around herself and somehow it seemed like she had just noticed who was standing in front of her.

She blinked up at him a couple of times. "Are you saying you just magically happened to be standing right next to me when I tripped and nearly painted Metropolis' streets with my brain matter?"

Clark had to keep his jaw from clenching so that he wouldn't give away his blatant lie. But truth be told it did sound beyond ridiculous. Then again, it wasn't like he could just tell her that he had super-speed across the street in order to save her. He had to think of something else to tell her.

"Well, I was magically coming to see you when you left 'The Daily Planet'. And I was also magically about to catch up to you when you suddenly fell... " He emphasized the word 'magic' on purpose, trying to make it sound foolish to think that anything supernatural might have been at work here.

Lois' eyes narrowed. "I remember someone bumping into me!" Clark raised his eyebrows, feigning surprise. "Well, then maybe someone bumped into you by accident. Strange, I didn't see that... But, whatever caused your fall you're lucky to be save. Don't walk on the very edge of the sidewalk, Lois, that's dangerous."

Clark put one of his hands on the small of her back and lead her away from the street. She didn't resist, but rather seemed to move like she didn't really understand what was going on. Probably in shock.

"Are you okay?" he asked, feeling strangely concerned about not only her physical but also her emotional well-being. Lois took a shaky breath. "Define 'okay'... " She took another breath and this one was more steady. Then she shook her head, seeming to get a grip on herself.

"Oh no. I've got somewhere to be." Clark caught her arm as she turned away from him. "Don't you think it would be more advisable to sit down and rest for a while?" he asked, surprised that she would just run off like that after such a near-death experience.

"I'm fine now. Thanks for saving me... again. But I really do have somewhere to be, so..." Her gaze landed on the hand on her arm. Clark let go, his face in a frown. "Be careful, Lois."

* * *

><p>Lois looked into Clark Luthor's eyes and nodded. She really did need to be more careful... She gave him one last half-forced smile, her head still reeling as she wondered how it was possible that Clark Luthor always seemed to be at the right place at exactly the right time.<p>

She had already taken several steps away from him when she realized that her behavior had been kind of rude. He had just saved her life, surely he deserved more that a quick mouthed 'Thank you, but I gotta run'. So she turned around in order to thank him properly...

...but Clark Luthor was gone – as if he had never been there in the first place.


	17. Chapter 17

_**I'm sorry it took me a little longer than I thought... but actually I like how this chapter came out because it finally involves the actual plot of the story!**_

_**I hope you like it! Enjoy and please review!  
><strong>_

**Chapter 17**

Lois frowned, then shook her head. She truly didn't have time for this...

She turned the way she had originally been heading, careful to keep away from the sidewalk this time. The chance of her falling onto the street _again_ was close to zero, but why tempt fate?

Besides, though she hated to admit it, she still felt shocked by how close she had come to being reduced to an uncomely sight right in front of the entrance of her workplace...

It took Lois twenty minutes to reach her destination and again and again she couldn't help looking around herself. She still had the weird feeling that it wasn't only bad luck and her clumsiness that were to be held responsible for her near-death experience.

The feeling that she had been _pushed_ and not merely bumped into would not fade even as time passed. It was a frightening feeling, one that almost made her paranoid as she looked at the people around her.

She was almost glad when she had to leave the more crowded part of Metropolis, but as she finally reached the place she'd been heading to, she began to feel uneasy. The warehouse was empty, she knew that, had quickly researched the meeting place before she had headed out.

It gave off a strange feeling, almost like a haunted house. The hairs on Lois' arm rose, but there was no way in hell she was going to chicken out of this one.

While she had still been at 'The Daily Planet' she had received another message. It had simply lain beneath her cup of coffee when she had returned from the toilette as if it had been there the whole time. It was exactly the same as with the message about Lilian Luthor's death... but this time it only consisted of a two things: a time and the name of the warehouse she was now standing in front of.

Lois gave her watch a glance. Right on time...

Her palms were a little sweaty as she opened the door and she gulped as she stepped inside. The sound of the door closing behind her was particularly loud in the silence of the empty warehouse and her heartbeat sped up.

Maybe this wasn't that good an idea after all. Lois might be able to kick all kinds of ass in a one-on-one fight, but maybe whoever had ordered her here didn't believe in fair-play... Lois was self-confident and she would be the first to admit that she was fabulous, because, oh well, she was _Lois_, but even she didn't delude herself into thinking that she could take on several people, especially if they had weapons she didn't.

Maybe she ought to have gotten one herself for self-defense... _Nice one to think of this __**now**__, Lois... Real clever._

She took a deep breath and then exhaled in a rush. Might as well get this over with. "Hello?" she called, her voice echoing from the walls. Now that ghostly sound didn't really give off a reassuring vibe...

"Welcome, Miss Lane." a voice said from her left, making her twirl around. Before her stood a man in his 60s, which she could tell by the receding hairline and the amount of wrinkles in his face. He wore glasses and a rather expensive looking suit, which made him look a businessman... but something about him made him seem like a criminal, making Lois' hackles rise.

The impression was magnified by the two younger men flanking his sides, who wore less expensive suits... bodyguards.

The older man smiled at her, but it was far from being a reassuring sight. Lois couldn't help but feel that she had just walked into something she rather would – or should – have stayed out of. But she was already caught up in whatever this was so she might as well be brave now. _If I go down, I'm gonna go down swinging!_

"Who are you and why did you want to meet me?" she asked, pleased that her voice was steadier than she had thought it would be. He ignored her first question and answered the second instead. "Well, Miss Lane, I have heard all kinds of things about you, but I wanted to meet you myself... as you are a rather important chess piece on my little board."

Something inside Lois stiffened at that, drowning out some of her fear of this man. Lois Lane was nobody's freaking pawn. His self-righteous arrogance made her want to do murder. He talked about her as if she was _a thing_, not a person. She hated people like him the most.

She was about to give him a piece of her mind, when he started talking again. "You'll be my means to destroy Lionel Luthor." he said, giving her a smug look as if he were to be congratulated on something. "Lionel Luthor?" Lois asked, her forehead creasing. "What is your business with Luthor?"

The older man laughed, but there was little humor in the sound... instead it made chills run down Lois' spine. "Let's just say that we are old friends..." he answered, but that just confused Lois more. "Friends? If you are friends then why do you want to destroy him?"

A mean look flashed across the man's face before he answered. "My reasons are my own, Miss Lane." Lois crossed her arms in front of her chest. "And what if I don't want to be your little pawn and refuse to investigate Lilian Luthor's death further?"

He gave her a look that a grandfather might give his grandchild if the child had said something silly, but couldn't possibly know better. "Do you remember my message, Miss Lane? I never said that you _had _to investigate Lilian's death. I simply informed you that there was more to her death than the public was aware of... starting an investigation was your own choice, one I had no hand in whatsoever."

"Maybe... but back then I didn't know what I was getting myself into. And I'm not exactly eager to face Lionel Luthor head on, I'm not stupid." The man laughed again.

"Are you really that dense, Miss Lane? And here I thought that you were quite witty and intelligent... Haven't you realized that you are already on Lionel Luthor's radar? Did you really think that you investigating his wife's death would go unnoticed by a man such as him? You can _not_ be that utterly foolish, Miss Lane. Tell me, have any dangerous things happened to you lately?"

Lois gulped as she remembered the thugs she had only been able to shake off thanks to Clark Luthor's interference. Or her near-death experience only half an hour ago when she's had the definite feeling that someone had pushed her...

"Oh my God..." she breathed, her heart skipping a beat. Those incidents hadn't had anything to do with bad luck. Someone was trying to actually kill her and that someone was probably one of the most powerful people in the world: The head of the Luthor-empire...

And Lionel Luthor always got what he wanted, was renowned for using all the means at his disposal to get whatever it was he desired... and apparently what he desired right now was for her breath to leave her cold, dead body.

"Yes, Miss Lane. Finally you are grasping your situation. You have already chosen, all on your own, to play this little game... and as my old friend likes to say: 'Never wound something you can't kill'." He turned to leave, which made Lois snap out of her panic-like state.

"If I have to bring this investigation to a close... then are you my ally?" she asked, hoping that, even though she didn't exactly like this man, he was at least on her side. He turned, smiling in that creepy way villains often smiled in movies. "The only one you have got, Miss Lane."

"Then would you mind at least telling me your name?" she asked as she watched him open the door she had come through only a few minutes before.

"Of course not, Miss Lane. How very rude of me. My name is Edge. Morgan Edge."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Clark recognized the man who left the warehouse immediately. Morgan Edge, a man whom Clark had always handled with the utmost care. He was an untrustworthy fellow, someone Clark had hoped he wouldn't have to deal with again for a long time...

He knew that Edge was an old friend of his father, knew that the two of them had probably committed more crimes together than some of the more notorious criminals in the city combined.

Clark had followed Lois to find out where she had been heading in such a hurry – and to make sure she didn't have another 'accident'. What he had discovered had surprised him, however. His superhuman senses had made it easy to listen to the conversation taking place inside the old, abandoned warehouse and now he knew what kind of game was being played... on both sides.

He had only suspected his father's involvement in Lois' unfortunate encounters for a second and had then dismissed the idea. Not because his father was above killing people – Clark knew him way too well for that – but because he had thought that whatever Lois Lane might uncover couldn't be important enough for Lionel Luthor to waste time on hiring assassins.

It seemed like he was dead wrong on that. Not only had his father hired people to kill Lois Lane – he had also given the order for it to be done in such a fashion that it would look like an accident. This had the advantage that noone would ask why she had been killed and noone would look into her articles from the past – or her current research – too deeply.

Clark watched from the rooftop of another old warehouse as Morgan Edge left the building and a black car drove up to him. Edge got in and the car was gone before Lois had even set a foot outside. Clark could hear the thundering of her heart, knew that she had to be quite frightened by what she had learned. It probably wasn't everyday that she found out that a billionaire with a terrifying amount of resources was out to get her.

And in a way, Clark felt for her. He didn't know what it was like to feel completely helpless – with his powers and his position in the Luthor-family he hadn't ever had a reason to – but he knew that it couldn't be a pleasant feeling. Having Morgan Edge 'on her side' didn't do much to reassure Lois – Clark could tell as much by her reaction to the man. The way her heartbeat had quickened and the way she had spoken with him made it obvious that Lois Lane was a smart person, smart enough to recognize a criminal when she came across one.

For a second that made Clark wonder how Lois perceived him. Was he a bad person in her point of view? Was she smart enough to realize that he wasn't that much better than Edge or his father?Could she somehow sense that he had blood on his hands, that he was no innocent?

He shook his head, getting rid of the thought. There were more pressing matters that needed to be thought about. Lois Lane's life was in danger, real danger. And the threat wasn't a temporary one because Lionel Luthor simply didn't let such a thing go until the one who had crossed him was dead.

Clark watched as Lois slowly left the warehouse, her hands shaking as she closed the door behind herself. Her arms folded around her body as if she were trying to hug herself, giving the impression that she felt cold... probably a result of the shock she had experienced due to what she had just heard. She stood in front of the door for a while like that as if she were lost in thought.

Clark, too, was thinking hard because he had realized that he only had two options. He could either walk away now, let his father do what he clearly wanted to do – or to _be done_ to phrase it more precisely – and read about the regrettable death of Lois Lane in the newspapers. Or he could choose to keep pursuing his path and try to uncover whatever it was Lois Lane had found out about his mother's death and stay by her side as she uncovered more of the apparently hidden truth...

Clark had loved the woman who had adopted him, had loved the warmth in her smile and the compassion in her heart. He had never understood why Lilian had married Lionel, didn't understand how a woman who had had so much _goodness_ inside her could have married a man who was so twisted in so many ways...

The attraction he felt for Lois Lane alone wasn't enough to persuade Clark to defy his father; but the love for his deceased mother was. And that was what settled Clark's path and made his back straighten as he looked down at the shaken woman who stood in front of the old warehouse that looked just as lost as her.

He was going to protect Lois Lane... from his own father.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Lois sat behind her desk at the daily planet, sipping at her cup of coffee... which she held with shaking hands. She still could not believe that she had been so stupid to think that her curiosity would not get her into trouble. _Deep_ Trouble.

"Hey, Lois, what's up?" Lois looked up, startled. Jimmy Olsen stood beside her desk, a grin on his face. The happy look disappeared when he saw her expression. His eyebrows drew together and a frown replaced his radiant smile.

"What's wrong, Lois? You look kinda shaken," Jimmy observed. "Do you want to talk about it?" Lois smiled. She _really_ liked Jimmy. He was such a nice and honest person... which was exactly why he aggravated the hell out of her sometimes, but he was always there when a friend needed him. However, she couldn't possibly get him involved in any of this.

"No, I'm good. But thanks," she therefore said, giving him a reassuring smile. He looked at her with apparent doubt in his eyes, but he didn't question her statement openly. As soon as he had left, no doubt on an errand for Perry White, the owner of 'The Daily Planet', Lois leaned back in her chair and started looking at her situation more carefully.

If Lionel Luthor was indeed trying to kill her... then how come Clark Luthor was the one who had saved her both from the mugging and the 'accident' with the car? Was he unaware of his father's agenda? Clark Luthor didn't strike her as a person who'd ever be unaware of the plans of a man as powerful as his father. He seemed too careful, too guarded for that.

Then, did that mean that he was actively going against his father? But why? There was no reason for him to interfere with Lionel Luthor on her behalf! He barely knew her and even if he liked her a little, it certainly wasn't enough to go against one of the most powerful men on this planet.

Suddenly a shiver ran through her body as she remembered that Clark Luthor had been inside her apartment, had been right next to her as she'd slept, completely vulnerable... He'd had the perfect opportunity to kill her and yet she had awoken unharmed...

She sighed, at a loss at what to make of the situation. She frowned, looking at the folded white paper that lay on her desk. All the thinking in the world wasn't going to get her anywhere. She unfolded the paper and looked at the row of numbers at the bottom. Then she reached for the phone, her face determined as she typed in the numbers.

Clark Luthor sat in his office, contemplating his next move. He had to talk to Lois. It only now occurred to him that the revelation that his father was trying to kill her would make Lois suspicious of him, too. But it also meant that he should finally directly confront her about what she had found out so far.

He was excited for that knowledge even as he dreaded it almost as much. He massages his temples. What exactly had happened to his mother that Lionel was so determined to hide the truth? And who was he hiding the truth from? From the media? Or from Clark? Was it possible... that Lionel had had a hand in Lillian's death?

The questions raced through Clark's mind so loudly that he couldn't simply sit still anymore. So he stood up from his big, black, leathern armchair and started pacing.

_How the hell am I going to approach her, especially without frightening her and making her think that I'm bent on killing her, too?_ He pushed one of his hands through his thick, dark-brown hair and let out a humorless chuckle.

Good lord, this was probably the first time in his life he'd ever cared about whether or not someone trusted him. But Lois' trust was a crucial matter... for she would never tell him about the findings of her research if she didn't trust him. She was too stubborn for that, would spit in his eye if it turned out that he wasn't on her side. He knew her well enough for that, already.

Besides, he didn't like the thought of Lois looking at him with fear in her expression, as he rather enjoyed the spark of humor in her gray eyes or the way she turned her gaze from his when embarrassed...

He sighed and turned to leave his office... when suddenly the phone on his desk started to ring.

Lois stood in the basement of 'The Daily Planet', a place that noone ever went, not unless they had to. It was where 'The Daily Planet' stored things that needed to be repaired or stuff for future use, be it printing machines, computers, paper, or even typewriters. Still, it was the best place that Lois had been able to come up with.

She looked around herself and absently patted her left side, reassured to find a solid object beneath the blazer she wore. She was nervous, which resulted in her wanting a cigarette. She had started smoking as a teen as a sort of rebellion against her four-star-general father who had forbidden her to ever smoke. She'd only managed to stop a few years ago, not long before she had started working for 'The Planet'.

She bit her lip, torn between standing her ground and staying where she was and taking her legs into her arms and run for it. The deep voice that suddenly echoed from behind her decided that question for her.

"Hello, Lois." Lois gasped and turned around, her hands flying to her now rapidly beating heart. Clark Luthor was partly concealed by the darkness in the room as the only lamp in the cellar gave so little light that most of the basement was pitch-black anyway. But even in this dimply lit room Lois could still make out his towering height and his wide shoulders. And while last night that impressive physic of his had seemed reassuring as she had walked next to him to her apartment, it now seemed like a terribly frightening threat.

Lois straightened, unwilling to let him see how unsure of herself she was. She took a deep breath and fixated her gaze to where his eyes would have shone in that amazing gray-blue color weren't it so dark.

"Let's get straight down to business: Are you trying to kill me?"


	20. Chapter 20

**_Sorry for the long wait for these two new chapters, but I'd almost forgotten about this story until three days ago! Updates are probably gonna be a lot more often from now on!_****  
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**_Read and Review!  
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**Chapter 20**

Clark's jaw clenched at the question, but he knew that it was a justified one. He'd known that she'd suspect as much, but hearing the question asked aloud still made his gut clench. He took a step toward her so that his face was illuminated by the dim light in the room.

The muscles in his whole body tensed as she took a step back in fear, but he wanted her to see his face, wanted her to see the truth in his features, when he answered her. What he hadn't expected however, was that her hand twitched towards the inside of her blazer and that her shaking fingers pulled out a gun that she had apparently been hiding.

She pointed it at him as she took another step back, fear and confusion in her eyes. She seemed to be surprised at herself as she looked down the barrel of the gun, right into his face. She had most likely thought of the weapon as her last resort, but her nerves were on edge and so she had instinctively tried to protect herself in the best way possible.

He understood her, but that didn't mean that he liked having a gun pointed at him.

"I'm not here to harm you in any way, Lois," he told her. He wanted his voice to be soothing, but his irritation at having a firearm aimed at him was still audible. He'd never liked those things. They didn't hurt, but they just seemed so... childish to Clark. For Clark guns were the criminal-version of men trying to impress each other by having the more expensive car. He was faster than any car and stronger than any bullet, so he wasn't particularly interested in either.

"Then you better stay right where you are, buddy! I'm no fool, you know," Lois answered as she slightly lowered the weapon, but still kept it at the ready to use it if necessary. Clark scoffed at her.

"Clearly," he said sarcastically. "Is that why you are pointing a gun at me? Because so many people get away with shooting a Luthor?" Lois bit her lip at that comment, but her hands held steady.

"And that is exactly my point," she said, her eyes trained on his face. "You're a Luthor... so what kind of game are you playing?" Clark folded his arms in front of his chest, both a way of showing his frustration and making it obvious that he didn't have a weapon to use against her. Not that he'd need one.

Lois raised an eyebrow when he didn't answer for several second. "Well?" she asked him, clearly annoyed with his silence. Clark glared at her, staring her down. Right now he didn't care if that would frighten her. All he knew was that he hated that look of fear in her eyes. _Hate her looking at me like all those cowards, hate the way it makes my heart ache._

"You have to be a little more precise, Lois," he said, giving the gun in her hands a disgusted glare. Her eyes narrowed, but she complied with his 'request' anyway.

"What are you up to? Why would you save me when your father is the one who's trying to kill me?" Lois questioned and – though it seemed to be unconscious on her part – she raised the gun that she still held in her hands, almost as if she were readying herself to shoot him.

Lois felt uneasy as she confronted Clark Luthor with the question that had plagued her the most throughout the day. His glare only intensified the fear she felt and so her hands clenched tightly on the Beretta 92 FS she was holding. Lois, being the daughter of a four-star General was trained in combat and was an excellent shooter, but that didn't keep her from feeling uneasy while pointing a gun at someone.

She felt like a criminal as she pointed the firearm at Clark, but she couldn't bring herself to let go of the weapon. So she just stood there and stared at the man standing across from her as she waited for him to speak.

"Well, as expected. With you it really is getting straight down to business, isn't it?" Clark let out a sound of utter frustration and the arms that he'd had crossed in front of his chest loosened. He used one of his hands to push back his dark hair from his eyes and then looked at her, his hand still buried in his thick locks.

"I know about the fact that you are investigation my mother's death, Lois," Clark said, his expression impossible to read as he stared past her at the far wall. Lois' stomach flipped. She'd known that it was ridiculous, but some part of her had hoped that Clark Luthor approaching her had been entirely incidental and that he'd had no ulterior motives when he'd been nice to her. _Stupid!_

"And I want to help you uncover the truth. I want to know what happened to Lillian," Clark added and Lois' eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"You don't know?" she asked, perplexed at that revelation. Lois had always thought of a family as a union, a group of people who kept each others' secrets and always had the others' back if necessary. Sure, she knew that even families had their difficulties. Lois herself, for example, had nearly been driven nuts by her sister during Lucy's teenage days, but if Lucy ever needed her, then Lois would be there as fast as she could. She was her baby sister, after all. A concept of a family where the members hid things from each other, especially something as important as this, was entirely foreign and incomprehensible to her.

"He's never talked to you about it?" she asked, disbelieving. Clark eyebrows drew together.

"See, Lois, that question right there proofs how little you know of the Luthor-family. My family is way different from yours..." He seemed to be caught in his own thoughts for a second. "_Way _different," he repeated while shaking his head.

"It would have been a much wiser choice to avoid any kind of involvement in Luthor-business, Lois." His expression was grave as he said this and it sent a shiver down Lois' spine. "However, it seems like you have already gotten yourself into too deep... you can't back away now. Either way, without protection, you'll be dead." Lois flinched at that blunt statement, but at the same time she knew it to be true. There was no way for her to go up against someone like Lionel Luthor and survive it.

"I didn't come here in order to hear you break down the obvious for me. You haven't answered my question," Lois told him, annoyed that he seemed to be the one with the upper hand in this conversation even though she was the one with the gun in her hands. A smile flashed across Clark Luthor's face.

"That's not entirely true. You are investigating my mother's death, and I want to know about anything you have found out so far... and everything you'll find out in the future," he said, taking another step toward her. This time Lois didn't feel afraid. She was too stunned to even think about being scared.

"You want me to work for you?" she asked, startled by this turn of events. She never would have expected Clark Luthor to choose her as his alley in going up against his own father. But something seemed off to her after she'd thought about it for a second.

"And how are you planning on pulling that off? As you pointed out so nicely, I'm as good as dead." Lois shook her head sadly. "You may be really good when it comes to picking fights with other companies, but you can't go against Lionel Luthor." She bit her lip as she finally lowered her weapon. "He's the head of Luthor Corp and with the authority that he holds he is capable of blocking any of your moves." Her own words saddened Lois, as they were true and meant that there really wasn't any hope for her. She didn't trust Morgan Edge and the only other man who would have been able to help her in a situation like this was forced to obey her enemy's will. _Is that it? Game over?_

But to her surprise Clark Luthor just shrugged. "True, I can't rely on any of Luthor Corp's resources... but I have my very own weapons, Lois," Clark said gravely, his eyes intent on her face. Lois had the feeling that he was telling her something important, but she had no clue what that could possibly be.

Clark opened his mouth and Lois knew that he was going to tell her something crucial. Both their heads snapped up as they heard a strange sound from above them, almost like the sound of a roller coaster.

"Fuck!" she heard Clark curse and the next thing she knew was that he was standing right next to her, pulling her tight against his chest with one arm while holding the other one high above his head as if he were trying to touch the ceiling.

"Face down!" he snapped at her as the noise from above got louder and louder until it was almost bursting her eardrums.


	21. Chapter 21

_Sorry it took a little longer! I'll be gone for the rest of the week but I wanted to get this chapter out before I left!_**  
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_I'm very happy to ahve received such great reviews! Thanks a lot!  
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_Enjoy and please review!  
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**Chapter 21**

The screeching noise ended abruptly, but another sound took its place. Lois' hackles rose. She couldn't see much for she was tightly pressed against the chest of Clark Luthor, but it sounded like something heavy had just broken through the ceiling.

Her suspicion was confirmed when, only a split second later, big pieces of concrete hit the floor right next to her with deafening thuds. Lois tensed and pressed herself more tightly against Clark as she prepared herself for the impact that she was sure would follow.

_I don't want to die! Not like this! _Lois squeezed her eyes shut, praying that she could somehow survive this and meanwhile cursing whomever had signed her up for this kind of fate.

Then... silence. The arm that had been firmly wrapped around her upper body loosened and Lois nearly stumbled backwards as soon as the support it had given her vanished. Her eyes surveyed the ground for a second, but her mind was unable to comprehend what had just happened. Or more precisely: how it was possible that she was still alive...

Then her gaze wandered upward... and she saw something that was the exact opposite of common sense. There stood Clark Luthor, his shirt partly torn as it had been cut by the sharp edges of the chunks of the ceiling that had crashed down to the floor. His hands were now both extended above his head and... it looked like he was holding up something big and metallic... something that looked suspiciously like the elevator of 'The Daily Planet'.

Lois stumbled back a step as her eyes met his. Clark Luthor's face was perfectly calm and composed as his gaze wandered over her figure once and then settled on her face.

"Are you injured?" he asked her, as he looked back and forth between her and the elevator above his head. There was no strain in his voice, absolutely no indication that the weight he was holding up was bothering him at all. Lois shook her head, but she didn't know whether she did it because of the absurdity of the scene before her or as an answer to his question.

Lois couldn't do anything but stare in shock as Clark Luthor slowly drew back one of his arms so that he was supporting the elevator's weight with only one hand. He then steadied the big metallic cage by putting his other hand on the side of it... and then he started to slowly lower the heavy contraption.

He sighed when he put it down on the ground and slowly released the frame. Then he straightened up and looked upward to where the elevator had come through. As Lois followed his gaze she could do nothing but blankly stare at the gigantic dark hole that had been left behind.

_Not real... this is not real. It can't be!_

Her stomach clenched as she looked back at Clark Luthor. Only a few seconds ago she had almost been certain that she could trust him. Now she wasn't so sure anymore. Then again... however he had done it, however what she had just seen could possibly be reality, he had saved her, hadn't he?

* * *

><p>Clark watched in fascination how a wide range of emotions flashed across Lois Lane's face in a matter of seconds. He could make out perplexity, curiosity, fear and finally... wonder. Noone had ever looked at him like that before and it resulted in a weird feeling in his stomach.<p>

But at that moment another feeling was far more dominant. Anger. It pulsed through his veins like some kind of venom that made his hands clench and his muscles tense. This had been another attempt for Lois Lane's life. Another of Lionel's little henchmen had most likely seen Lois enter this building and had thought of it as the perfect opportunity to bury her in her own workplace's basement.

Of course Clark's movements had been too fast for the hitman to see when he had entered the building and therefore he had thought that Lois was alone. Not that a mere human could have done anything to prevent the woman's death...

It surprised and angered Clark with how much ferocity Lionel was trying to get rid of the reporter. Not even a whole day had passed since his last attempt at silencing the woman forever. But Clark wasn't going to have that. Lois Lane would _not_ die, not if he could help it.

However, there was just this little problem of him revealing his powers right before her eyes...

"We have to go, Lois," Clark said, trying to get her back into the real world. He knew that she was in shock. Any normal person would be...

"I don't know if any parts of the building were damaged. It's not safe in here! The whole thing could come crashing down on us," he added, giving her at least one of the reasons for which it was unwise to stay where they were. It wasn't the most important one, though. If the building were indeed in danger of collapsing then he would hear the tremors long before the two of them would be buried by heaps of concrete. It would give him enough time to speed them out of there.

There was a possibility of other dangers however and Clark didn't feel like taking a risk. Besides, the shattered ceiling that was now scattered over the floor of 'The Daily Planet''s basement just reminded him of how close Lois had come to being killed. It was a cowardly way to kill someone and the thought of Lois buried beneath that big elevator got Clark's blood boiling. And it was never good when Clark got mad... because then it became dangerous. For a lot of people.

"Go?" Lois asked, her brows drawn as she looked at the pieces of concrete that blocked the staircase. "How are we going to get out of here?"

She walked over to the staircase, her steps careful as she side-stepped the rubble on the floor. Clark's eyebrows rose and he had to suppress a laugh – however ridiculous that was in a situation like this – as Lois tried to move one of the heavy objects out of the way. Her head started turning red with the effort of it, but the giant rock didn't do so much as move.

"Impossible!" she gasped, giving up and catching the breath she had obviously been holding.

* * *

><p>"For you, maybe," Clark Luthor said as he strode forward until he was standing right next to Lois. She looked up at him, unsure of what to think. She was still unable to process what she had seen earlier and some part of her mind was trying to forget about it altogether. It just seemed too unreal.<p>

Then again, she preferred him having unnatural strength to her being a pile of blood and broken bones beneath her workplace's elevator, so...

Clark Luthor picked up one of the rocks without difficulty as if it weighed no more than a paperweight. Like that it took him only a minute to completely clear their path as Lois watched with amazement. Now there was no denying it. Something was definitely unusual about Clark Luthor.

"How?" she just breathed as he turned to her again. He looked at her darkly for a second.

"It's a long story...," he paused, flashing a glance up the staircase. "But I'll tell you." He extended one of his hands to her and Lois stared at it with perplexity for a moment. "However, right now you've gotta trust me."

"Trust you?" Lois asked, shaking off her astonishment as her brows drew together. "What for?" Frustration was plainly visible in his features as he looked down at her.

"Are you mentally challenged? This clearly was no accident," Clark replied angrily and for a second Lois was frightened by the pure rage that seemed to be twisting his features. Her throat went dry even as her heartbeat increased its pace. In a flash the look on his face disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.

"It's not safe here for you," he then said, his face completely rid of any emotion. "So I'll get you out of here." Lois cocked her head to the side, unsure of what he was trying to tell her.

"So what?" she said, looking at his still extended hand. "I can walk by myself!" Clark sighed in exasperation, clearly not used to having to explain himself to anyone. "You know what? Never mind!"

Instead of taking her hand he took a quick step behind her and before Lois knew it her legs gave out. She felt something hard press against her back and she saw how Clark caught her at the hollows of her knees as she fell. He then lifted her up so that she couldn't do anything but roll against his chest.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're...?" Lois was cut off as she felt a sudden rush of wind that threatened to crush her and made her squeeze her eyes shut. But the frightening pressure disappeared as quickly as it had started and before she could even open her eyes, Lois was dropped. She let out a small scream as she collided with something rather soft and her eyes flew open.

"Where...?" Lois' question remained unfinished as she looked around herself in amazement, her anger forgotten. The place she was now in was nothing like the basement of 'The Daily Planet'.

"My apartment in Metropolis," Clark Luthor explained simply as he loosened the tie around his neck and sank back into a comfortable and expensive looking armchair.

"Now we can talk."

**I hope this isn't too much of a cliffhanger! I'll try to update as soon as possible but I don't know if the next update will be on this story or my other story called 'Little Runaway'!**


	22. Chapter 22

_Hi guys! I've been gone the last week so I updated as fast as possible! Like whynot1993 requested I updated here first ;) I hope you guys enjoy it! Oh and btw the next update might just be for this story again because I am at least as excited about writing this next part as you are about reading it!_

_Enjoy and please leave a review!  
><em>

**Chapter 22**

Lois couldn't take her eyes off Clark Luthor even as her mind registered that she was definitely in the most expensive apartment she had ever laid eyes on. _Everything _looked pricy. From the curtains and the carpets to the furniture and the lighting. It was exactly the kind of environment she usually felt uncomfortable in because she always lived in the fear of doing something wrong... like smashing a vase or staining a carpet.

Since her Dad was a general Lois had grown up on military bases and so she was very used to physical activity and she liked having the ability to move freely. And though the apartment was very spacious, probably three or four times the size of her own, she still felt caged.

But as she looked into Clark Luthor unflinching eyes she realized something else. _There's no kidding yourself, Lois. You could be in your own apartment and this man would be keeping you on edge anyway._

Before she had felt a little giddy in Clark Luthor's presence because he was a rather extraordinary male. It didn't happen often that Lois came across a man with his face, his built and his wealth. Any woman would find at least _something _about Clark Luthor that she would deem attractive.

But now Lois knew that there was more to Clark Luthor than met the eye. And if Lois' curiosity weren't so insatiable then her uncertainty of how much she could trust Clark Luthor would probably have kept her from talking. But, after all, Lois Lane was _the _reporter of 'The Daily Planet' so it was almost physically impossible for her to keep her mouth shut for any length of time.

"Your shirt is torn," Lois said and then she wanted to bite her tongue. Seriously? Was that the first thing her battered mind could come up with? What happened to wanting to ask him about his definitely-more-than-human ability to lift things that would normally squash a person?

Clark Luthor looked down and his eyebrows rose as he saw that she was indeed right. "I didn't even notice," he murmured and Lois got the impression that he wasn't speaking to her, but rather to himself. A look that strangely resembled surprise passed over his features and Lois guessed that it didn't happen often that Clark Luthor was unaware of anything about his own physicality. Then again, Lois doubted that even a guy like him had an elevator dropped on his head frequently, so he was entitled to acting a little out of character in her book.

Lois was so caught up in her own thoughts that it made her jump when Clark suddenly stood up. He raised an eyebrow at her nervousness as he started unbuttoning his shirt.

"There is no need to be jumpy," he said as he took off the ripped piece of light blue clothing. "And I actually liked this one," he added in a quiet sigh as he tossed the torn shirt onto a wooden chair... on the other side of the room. It landed there as accurately as if he had been standing right next to it, but Clark didn't even spare his accomplishment another glance as he sat back down on the armchair.

He apparently didn't feel the need to redress...

"I'm sorry," Lois whispered quietly. In a way she felt it was partly her fault that his shirt had been ruined. But Clark Luthor just made one of those male sounds that said 'I don't fucking care'.

"You're not responsible. Besides, if I actually wanted to, I could have dozens of those by tomorrow." Others would have loved the prospect of getting whatever they wanted like this, but Clark's voice simply sounded bored.

Then Lois' eyebrows drew together and she shook herself. For heaven's sake, this wasn't the time to talk about ripped shirts or the pros and cons of being rich.

"How is it that you can do... what you can do?" Lois questioned, unable to ask him the question to what she actually wanted to know. Well or what she wanted to know the most, anyway.

"What do you think?" Lois' eyes narrowed at his question. Why couldn't he simply answer her? But then she saw the tension in the muscles in his arms. It seemed like Clark Luthor was just playing cool, however on the inside he was not as composed as he seemed.

"Maybe you were involved in some kind of experiment? Or...," Lois' eyes widened in horror as a new possibility struck her mind. "Maybe all the rich people can do the same stuff as you? Is there some type of surgery or medication that we normal people never even heard of?"

Clark Luthor's expression became completely blank for a second... and then he burst out laughing.

* * *

><p>Clark couldn't help himself. He just had to laugh. It wasn't so much the fact that Lois' expression was beyond priceless – which it <em>was<em> – but rather that some of the tension left his body at Lois' question. He'd been afraid that she would be frightened of him now, that he would never again see that woman who was so quick at repartee. A thought that saddened him more than he cared to admit. Now he somewhat relaxed in the soft armchair, thinking of how to answer her almost childlike question.

"What do you think would happen if that were the case, Lois?" His counter question made Lois' eyebrows draw together and she pursed her lips for a moment. After a few seconds growing horror began to darken her eyes.

"Exactly," Clark said, nodding at the realization that was so clearly written in her face. "It would be complete and utter chaos. There would be more than a few who'd disregard the law and also heaps of idiots who wouldn't even try to keep a low profile." Clark's voice was completely without emotion as he spoke and he knew that he was a little guilty of the 'disregard of the law' himself. The again, most people didn't need superpowers in order to walk on the bad side. His father, at least, was doing quite fine without them.

For a second Clark thought about the prospect of Lionel having his powers and he shuddered at the thought. Clark knew that he could be a mean bastard if he wanted to, but he had no doubt that Lionel could be much, much worse.

Clark was ripped out of his thoughts by Lois' soft voice. "Is that what you're doing? 'Keeping a low profile'?" Clark looked into Lois' amazingly deep green eyes, trying to figure out if there were any emotions attached to her question. Her facial expression revealed nothing and so he answered her with what came easiest to him – a lie.

"Of course, Lois. I'm not stupid. If the world ever got wind of what I could do, I would most likely be in deep trouble," he told her. It was actually true, if seen rationally. And his answer would have been truthful as well, if it weren't for his short time as Ultraman...

Lois' looked at him with surprise clearly visible in her face. "Then how many people know about what you can do?" Lois had barely closed her mouth when she added, "And what exactly is it that you can do?"

Clark had to smile at her impatience and her apparent anger at him for dodging that very important second question. "Not many. Actually there are very few people I trust...," Clark sighed, "...okay, maybe there is noone that I trust one hundred percent. So the only ones who know is my father – for obvious reasons -, the head of our security at the mansion... and now you."

That answer seemed to confuse Lois. "And what about your brother? What about Lex?" It was abundantly clear that the concept of family members not sticking together and sharing their secrets was incomprehensible to Lois.

Clark closed his eyes for a second as he thought about his older brother. He hadn't seen Lex in years... Shortly after their mother's death Lex had been shipped off to a mental institution. Lionel had told Clark that Lex had been unable to come to terms with his mother's death and therefore had taken mental damage. Back then Clark had wanted to visit the boy who had been his playmate until then, but Lionel had forbidden it. He still heard his father's words ringing in his head. _There is no place for the weak in the Luthor-family, my son. Do not concern yourself with him._

Once Clark had tried to steal himself away in order to visit Lex, but Lionel had caught him and locked him in the room where he kept green meteor rock. He'd had to endure that sick feeling those glowing green stones evoked in him for hours... Clark had only been five years old back then and that episode had forever cured him of the desire to steal off.

After a few years Clark had simply lost interest in his older brother. The thought made him wince. It said a lot about what kind of a cold-hearted bastard he had become that he had not tried to see his brother ever since he had achieved the ability to do things without Lionel catching on.

But regarding Lois' question... he really didn't know. He couldn't remember that much from his childhood. However, he knew that his abilities had become stronger and stronger over time so it was possible that they hadn't been as obvious back then. Hell, even now Clark continued to get stronger, more durable and faster. So it was quite possible that Lex had never known that he was inhuman. Stronger than a normal child his age, yes, but nothing that screamed of the supernatural.

"You wanted to know why I am the way I am, right?" Clark asked, ignoring her last question as he was unwilling to talk about Lex with her. Clark hadn't thought about him for so long that it seemed... wrong to discuss him with someone who was almost a stranger.

Lois just nodded as she stared at him, her eyes growing bigger with anticipation. She looked like a child waiting to hear its fairy-tale bedtime story. Just that his life was not exactly the stuff dreams were made of.

"I wasn't born anywhere near Metropolis..."

* * *

><p>Lois' eyebrows drew together in confusion. What did he mean to tell her? That he was a foreigner? What did that have to do with anything? But then Clark Luthor finished his sentence and Lois was not sure if she could trust her ears.<p>

"In fact, I wasn't born anywhere near this galaxy."

* * *

><p><em>Special thanks goes <span>whynot1993<span> and the guests who reviewed my last chapter ;) I hope you enjoyed this update! ('the talk' will be up as soon as I can manage!)_


	23. Chapter 23

_Hey you guys! How's this for a fast update? ;) So with this chapter I'm really excited about hearing your opinion so I would appreciate it if you could give me a short note on this. Is it the way you expected it to be? If it isn't, is it better or worse than what you thought?_

_Enjoy and please review ;)  
><em>

**Chapter 23**

Lois could see Clark's mouth opening and his intention to keep on talking, but she held her hands up like she was trying to stop traffic. "Wow, stop! Rewind! Are you trying to tell me that you are in fact from another planet?" Lois felt like laughing because the notion sounded so ridiculous. But Clark Luthor's face was dead serious as he held her gaze.

"I don't know where I am from exactly, nor do I know why I'm on earth," Clark added and then got up from the armchair he had been sitting in. He walked over to the windows that were covered by thick curtains. He lifted the fabric aside slightly and his eyes swept over the outside world. His gaze was slightly turned downward so Lois figured that they were in a building high above the city, maybe a skyscraper.

"Okay, let's say, for argument's sake, that I believe you... how do you know you weren't born on earth?" Lois asked, unsure if she could trust a single word he said. She'd seen him do impossible things and even though she was ready to accept that what she had seen was reality, she'd never thought that he might be an alien. He just looked so... human. No green skin, no third eye, no tail or pointed ears. Nothing that indicated that he was part of another race.

"Lionel found me in a field in a town called Smallville... where he also found a spaceship," Clark explained, his gaze still pinned on the city below. That little tidbit of information made Lois' mouth gape open.

"The meteor shower! My cousin Chloe lived in Smallville at the time. She told me about some giant meteor shower that took place about twenty years ago...," Lois trailed off. In a sick way Clark's story was beginning to make sense. "Are you saying you landed on this planet during that meteor shower?"

Clark Luthor shrugged, a movement that made the muscles in his back and shoulders flex visibly. "That's what I was told. I don't remember much. I was approximately three years old when I was found and I don't remember anything from before that day...," he paused, apparently lost in his own thoughts for a second. "It seems like my memory works like that of a human. I remember some things more vividly than others, things like pain or grieve."

Lois' eyebrows drew together at that. He hadn't mentioned happy moments. Didn't he have any happy memories, like birthday parties or visits to an amusement park? Then again Lois could hardly picture Lionel Luthor taking a little Clark out for a ride on the fairy's wheel...

"And in what aspects do you differ from a human then? Just your strength?" Lois asked, curiously eyeing the part of Clark's face that she could see, carefully watching for any changes in his facial expression. She watched his features harden and his jaw muscles tense. However his voice was calm when he spoke even though it had a dark edge to it.

"Can I trust you to keep this to yourself? I'm on your side, Lois...," he turned around and looked at her, his eyes searching hers for some kind of answer. "The question is: Are you on mine?"

Lois looked at him in silence for a few seconds and then she nodded. "It very much seems like we are in this together," she paused and held his gaze. "So will you answer my question?"

It seemed like Clark was studying her intently, watching her face and body language, looking for any indication of any sort of reaction as he spoke. "You've already seen that I'm... stronger than the average person. I don't know how strong I am exactly, just that the weight of that elevator didn't feel all that heavy to me. I can lift cars without breaking a sweat and rip metal as if it were paper."

Clark stopped speaking and walked over to a wooden cabin. He took a bottle of scotch from it and two glasses. "Care for one?" he asked, lifting one glass up in the air for her to see. "It might do you some good for what's coming."

Lois swallowed as she nodded. "So there _is _more?" she questioned, her throat a little dry at what she had just heard. Sweet Jesus, Clark Luthor was most likely capable of bringing down a whole building, were he of a mind to. She shuddered to think what he would be able to do to a human. A single punch from him could probably smash someone's skull.

He made both glasses about half full and then handed one to her, taking his seat on the armchair again. "I'm afraid so," he said before taking one gulp of his scotch... a big gulp. Lois' eyes widened.

"Careful with that!" she exclaimed, half expecting him to cough. Clark just raised an eyebrow at her and took another sip. "Don't worry. I don't get drunk nearly as easily as you might. I'm not sure I can get drunk at all," he explained, the corners of his mouth lifting at her horrified expression.

"How's that possible?" she asked him, stunned. He shrugged with his shoulders. "Beats me," Clark answered and after a second he added: "My skin is impenetrable. Lionel tried to take blood samples from me when I was a kid. You know, to research my DNA? But the needles just broke off."

Lois was beginning to get a headache from all of this. It was so much to wrap her mind around... "So does that mean that you are invulnerable?" she asked, thinking of how knifes and possibly even bullets would suffer damage themselves, were they to collide with the unmovable wall that seemed to be Clark Luthor. A curious look passed over Clark's face and then a strange smile, one that didn't reach his eyes, lifted one corner of his lips.

"Exactly," he said. And Lois knew. She knew right in that moment that Clark Luthor was lying to her. But considering the subject, she couldn't really blame him. She felt intrigued, however. What could possibly hurt this man in front of her, who with every single word he spoke convinced her more and more that he was an unconquerable one-man army?

Lois decided to let that subject slide for now and get back to something just as interesting. "So you're strong and invincible? That's what makes you different?" she asked, wanting to make sure that was all there was. A real smile appeared on Clark's face and the somewhat cold look vanished from his facial features.

"How do you think you got here?" he questioned, a look that closely resembled amusement in his eyes. Lois blinked. Then her mouth gaped open. "Can you teleport or something? You know, like in those science-fiction movies?"

The room was dead silent for a second... before Clark Luthor started laughing so hard that he had to hold his sides. An instant blush made Lois' cheeks heat up and take on a slightly darker shade. Maybe she had watched one too many movies throughout her life. It took Clark nearly a whole minute to get serious again.

"Gods, I can't remember the last time I've laughed this hard," he murmured, almost too quiet for Lois to hear. Although she still felt embarrassed, she was glad to have seen that expression on his face. She liked seeing him laugh. Whenever he did, his eyes seemed to brighten and his face seemed less reserved. She also loved the sound of his laughter. It simply made him seem... warmer, more approachable.

"No, I can't teleport," he said then, ripping her out of her thoughts and most likely stopping her staring at his face like an idiot. "However, I can move faster than the speed of sound."

"You what?" Lois asked, astonished. She could hardly imagine such a thing. Then she mentally cringed. _Yeah, Lois, because it seems so much less believable than someone being capable of teleporting, right?_

She spoke again before Clark could repeat himself. "So how fast exactly are you?" He frowned, thinking for a moment. "Like with my strength, I can't really tell, but..." Clark's body seemed to flicker for a second and Lois blinked. No, she'd just imagined it. He was sitting across from her, just like before. But now there was a strange smile on his face.

"Next to you, Lois," he simply said and her gaze followed his. Right next to her on the couch lay a book... one that hadn't been there before. Lois gasped as she grabbed the familiar volume.

"Is this...?" she whispered, unable to finish her question. Clark Luthor nodded. "It's the book from your nightstand." Lois turned the paperback in her hand, recognizing the slightly wavy pages. She'd been dumb enough to take the book into the bathroom when she had showered and the small room had instantly filled with the hot water vapor which had resulted in those wavy pages. This was indeed her own book and not some replica.

"B-but you...," Lois stuttered, looking up at Clark. "You never moved!" Clark just rested back in his armchair and smiled.

"Now you've got your answer," he said. Lois got the impression that he sounded pleased with himself. Huh, so Clark Luthor was a show-off? That made him seem almost... normal. Lois shook her head and lay the book down in her lap before she took a sip from her glass of scotch. However, even though she had only taken a small nip, she ended up coughing.

"What the...?" she muttered between coughs. A self-righteous smile appeared on Clark's face as she took a shaky breath. "Oh, I may should have warned you. It's very old scotch... and a strong one." Lois glared at him. It seemed like Clark Luthor had a bit of a wicked streak.

"Well, then, thanks for the heads-up," Lois said sarcastically. Clark Luthor was about to reply when his cell phone suddenly started ringing. His expression instantly darkened as he pulled the phone out of one of the pockets of his dress pants. And though Lois would have thought it impossible, his expression became even darker when he saw who the person calling him was.

His eyes met hers. "Don't make a sound," he said, before he pressed a button and put the phone to his right ear.

"Hello, Dad."

* * *

><p><em>whynot1993: Sorry for the suspense at the end of the last chapter. I ended this one with a little bit of a cliffhanger, too, but I hope it's not as bad ;) I'm so excited about developing the Clois relationship! I just didn't want them to have this animal-like attraction from the start, with them wanting to jump each others bones without having any knowledge of the other person's character... because I think that that kind of storyline is ridiculous.<em>

_Guest: I'm so glad you're enjoying my story ;) It's always nice to hear that one's work is appreciated!  
><em>


	24. Chapter 24

_Hey there ;) Thanks for the great reviews for the last chapter, I really appreciate it!**  
><strong>_

_So here's the next chapter! Enjoy and please review!  
><em>

**Chapter 24**

As soon as those two words left Clark's mouth he could see Lois growing tense and Clark's unoccupied hand clenched into a fist automatically in response to her distress. He could feel fear emanating from her. It was understandable, considering that Lois was more or less only a few feet away from the man who wanted her dead so desperately that he'd tried to end her life twice that day.

"What is it?" The anger seething inside him made Clark's voice sound harsher than he had intended. Throughout Clark's life Lionel had done a lot of things Clark had not approved of, but nothing had ever evoked a reaction as strong as this one. Lionel had gone back on his word so many times that Clark had stopped counting and his father wasn't above killing former business partners or unwanted competition either. But all that time, Clark had merely shrugged, accepting his father for the cruel and heartless man that he was. Now Clark wasn't so sure anymore if that was the way things should be.

"My, my, someone's not in a good mood," Lionel chided on the other end of the phone, his tone like the one of a parent speaking to a small child. The very tone that Clark hated beyond measure. It made him feel like the young boy again that had been terrified of being locked in the room filled with green meteor rock and had therefore done anything his father requested. He hated being reminded of that time, hated being reminded of the fact that he'd thought of Lionel as the one person he was forbidden to oppose. No longer.

"Sorry. I was just about to have some... fun," Clark said and his inflection made it clear just what kind of 'fun' he meant. The lie came smoothly to Clark and rolled of his lips as easily as if it were the truth. Yet earlier, when he'd lied to Lois about not having any weaknesses, his mouth had felt dry and his tongue heavy. It was strange that lying to the man who'd raised him came easier to Clark than lying to the innocent woman sitting across from him.

Lois' eyebrows drew together at his answer and he gave her a small smile. To his satisfaction that slight change in his facial expression made her blush a lovely shade of pink. He really liked that she responded so visibly to him. It was so much different from those high-society women, who just battered their eyelashes and played their games to get the guy they wanted. But other than that most of them were cold-hearted banshees who'd screw him over if it suited them.

The sound of Lionel's voice coming through the speaker of Clark's cell made the smile on his face disappear instantly. "Then my apologies for disrupting your little... liaison," Lionel said on the other end of the phone, but he didn't sound sorry at all. "However, I heard that you left your office in quite a hurry this evening so I wondered..." Lionel didn't finish his sentence but rather left room for interpretation. Typical.

"Well, I haven't... relaxed in quite some time, so I was eager to lay back for a while." Clark spun his tale with ease and conviction, something that came easily to him for he had witnessed it all his life. "Why would that make you worry, though?" Clark asked, even though he already knew that his father was wary of him. Clark looked at Lois and a wicked smile crossed his face. For a good reason, it seemed.

"You're my son, Clark! Of course I'd worry!" The dishonestly of that answer was so clearly audible that Clark nearly winced. Had his father always been that bad a liar or did the lies just become that much more noticeable when Clark had decided that Lionel and he were not on the same side anyway?

"There's nothing to worry about, Dad. I'll just unwind a little tonight, but I'll be there for tomorrow's meeting." There was a short silence and Clark wasn't sure if his father believed him. But then Lionel's voice could be heard again.

"Then I will see you tomorrow. Goodbye, son," Lionel said and before Clark could open his mouth, his father had hung up on him. Which suited Clark just fine. He let his phone slide back into the right pocket of his dress pants and watched as Lois slowly took another sip of her scotch, this time without coughing.

Her gaze was fixed on her glass and she turned it in her hand nervously. "Are you sure that you want to go up against your father?" she asked quietly, making sure not to meet his gaze. Clark frowned at that, unsure of how to respond. Didn't she trust him? And if so, did that lack of trust have something to do with him not being... human? Uncertainty made his gut clench. It was a feeling he was entirely unfamiliar with and a feeling he most certainly did not like.

He had to know. "Don't you trust me?" he therefore asked, bracing himself for her answer. If there was anything he was going to get from Lois then it was honesty. She looked up at him then, her eyes wide. She shook her head, which made her hair fly through the air.

"That's not it! It's just... he's your father, right?" Her voice was uncertain as she searched his face for some kind of emotion. Clark sighed as he understood what she was getting at. But he wasn't sure of how to answer. Telling her that he'd come around to thinking that he was that much of a bastard that he'd betray the man who'd raised him to get what he wanted was probably not the best way to win her trust completely.

However, since lying to her seemed to be surprisingly difficult, Clark opted for another answer. Different, but not less truthful. "This is about my mother. Lillian has been dead for many years, but she was a good woman and a great mother. If Lionel is trying to hide the truth of what happened to her from me, then he is the one who is in the wrong."

Lois nodded. "Okay, then. I just don't want you to have second thoughts on this matter. After all, this is my life we are talking about," she said, worry clearly visible on her face. Her forehead creased as she shot a quick glance at the right pocket of his dress pants where his cell phone rested in.

"What is Lionel Luthor going to do when he finds out about you helping me?" she asked and Clark couldn't help but feel happy that she eyed him with worry, as if she were afraid for his safety. Ever since Lillian's death noone had ever truly worried for him, so the feeling it evoked inside him was rather unfamiliar, but welcome.

Clark placed a hand over his chest. "Invincible, remember?" he answered, even as he himself wondered about what Lionel would do. His father, unlike Lois, knew about his weakness. And now that Clark was faced with the question, he wasn't entirely sure whether his father was above killing the boy he had raised. The truth was that Clark could prove unspeakably dangerous to Lionel, not only because of his abilities but also because of his knowledge and the connections he had with other influential people. And if there was one thing that Clark knew then it was that his father would never leave a threat like that unattended.

A small smile lifted the corners of Lois' lips, but her eyes didn't cease looking troubled. Perhaps she had recognized his earlier lie for what it was, after all... Then she suddenly started getting up.

"It's late. I should be going home," she said as she started making her way towards what she probably believed to be the direction leading to the entrance door.

* * *

><p>Lois nearly tripped over her feet as she came to a very sudden standstill. Clark Luthor seemed to have materialized out of thin air as he now stood before her, his arms crossed in front of his chest.<p>

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked and it almost seemed like he was spoiling for a fight. Something seemed to have angered him.

"Well, what does it look like I'm doing? I'm going home," Lois answered, honestly perplexed by this sudden change in his mood. The sudden flex in Clark's biceps as his body tensed distracted Lois for a second as she wondered how the man in front of her had gotten this kind of physic. How did you work out if you were able to juggle cars without breaking a sweat?

"Didn't you learn anything tonight? How careless can you get?" Clark spat at her, clearly not all that happy with her answer. "Do you really think that my father doesn't know exactly where you live?" Chills ran down Lois' spine as she realized what he was getting at. She couldn't return home. There simply was no 'home' for her to return to. Just a place where she would be nothing more than a sitting duck, waiting for Lionel Luthor to take another shot at ending her life.

"But where should I go?" Lois breathed and though she hated looking weak she felt tears well up in her eyes. That little apartment in the not-so-good part of Metropolis hadn't been much, but it had been her refuge. The thought of not being able to go back there felt like someone had just punched her in the gut.

Something about her expression seemed to make Clark's earlier anger disappear. His features softened and his body relaxed somewhat. "You'll be staying here," he said simply, as if he had thought that she should have known about this solution from the start.

"Is that really alright?" Another question struck her before Clark could answer the first one. "And what about my work?" She couldn't miss out on work! She could hardly explain to Perry White that Lionel Luthor was trying to kill her for investigating Lillian Luthor's death!

Clark frowned at her when she suddenly couldn't help but yawn. God, she was so tired. She had gotten up rather early this morning and the day had been rather eventful, so she felt like simply falling into a soft, warm bed and sleep for the next century.

"You're dead on your feet," Clark observed, looking aggravatingly awake. "We'll talk about these things tomorrow," he added as Lois already prepared herself to argue. Still, Lois bit her lip and looked down at her shoes. She couldn't help but feel worried and even though she was really tired the thought of sinking into sleep's oblivion and being completely vulnerable scared her.

A warm hand softly covering her cheek turned her face upward again and made her look straight into the eyes of Clark Luthor. "Go to bed. I'll protect you." His words sounded like an oath. And strangely enough, Lois believed him.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks for reading! The next chapter will include sleeping arrangements and I'm planning on focusing a little more on the actual Clois-relationship! So stay tuned (sorry, but I just had to write this because I hear it in trailers so often^^)! <em>


	25. Chapter 25

_Hey! I'm sorry for the long wait, but between my holiday job and updating on my other story ('Little Runaway') I didn't have much time left. To make up for it, I'm back now with a longer chapter that I hope you guys will enjoy ;). And though I didn't have much time to write, I certainly had time to think so I'm now rather sure of what's going to happen next! Hope you guys will like it!**  
><strong>_

_So enjoy and please review.  
><em>

**Chapter 25**

Clark almost couldn't believe what he was doing. Here he was, offering to share the place that had been his secret hideout, open to only himself until now, with a woman he barely knew.

A place where one could relax and truly be himself was essential to a man like Clark. He'd always had a place like this. Even as a kid he'd found a place to withdraw to, a place he'd never let anyone see.

And yet here he was, inviting Lois Lane to stay over as if it were the most natural thing in the world. There was a sense of rightness in what he was doing, though.

She swayed a little and his hand grabbed her elbow with the speed of light to keep her from falling. With the other he pointed to the door behind her. "You should go to the bathroom, get ready for bed. I'll find something for you to wear," he told her, drawing his hand back as he felt the strange urge to rub her arm. He frowned. Those kinds of gestures were meant for comfort, but he'd never comforted anyone. He didn't understand why he suddenly felt the need to change that.

She looked into his eyes for a second and then nodded. When she walked off he realized something. Lois Lane wasn't simply tired. Oh, she _was _tired, very much so. The day had certainly taken its toll on her. But she was also slightly... tipsy. Clark had to suppress a smirk. So she was no frequent or heavy drinker. True, that had been old and _strong_ scotch, but she'd only had a single glass. Most people Clark knew wouldn't have been affected by it, most certainly not like this.

He had to hold in laughter as she almost stumbled into the frame of the door that led to the bathroom and righted herself with an expression that was very close to perplexity, as if the frame had just appeared out of thin air.

But then he shook his head as the door closed behind her. What was wrong with him? The very reason he was helping Lois was the fact that she was investigating his mother's death, yet the only thing they actually _hadn't_ discussed was her investigation!

His strides were angry and brooding as he walked to his bedroom and opened the closet. Most of his shirts were in different shades of blue, for it was the color that went best with his eyes. He pulled out one of the few white shirts and let the soft material glide through his fingers. Then he closed the closet again and walked over to the bathroom door.

He was about to open the door, but as soon as his hand touched the handle he pulled it back. He didn't want to invade her privacy, which was strange, because he'd never cared whether or not others were comfortable in his presence. Still, he dropped the shirt on the ground and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Lois asked and her voice sounded like he'd startled her. Good thing he hadn't barged into the room without any kind of warning.

"I've left a shirt outside the door," Clark replied and he almost added that he'd be waiting in his bedroom. However, first of all, she didn't know where his bedroom was and second, he didn't know if that would give her a certain impression and make her nervous. Clark's eyebrows drew together as he headed back the way he'd come. Apart from the fact that Lois was actually more or less forced to stay in his apartment, this whole set-up strangely reminded him of lovers.

* * *

><p>Lois' heart hammered in her chest for a few seconds, which angered her. She'd never been one to get scared easily, had never been the kind of girl who panicked, but right now she seemed to be strung tight like a wire. Clark's calm voice that carried through the closed door soothed her scattered nerves, made her relax somewhat. Geez, watch the billionaire playboy turn into her mental security blanket...<p>

She listened for any kind of sound for a few seconds but heard nothing. Everything was dead quiet. When she opened the bathroom door two seconds later she was half-expecting Clark Luthor to still be standing there, but the living room was empty. Figured that the guy would know how to move while making all the noise of a needle dropping on the floor.

She looked down, feeling a little dizzy as she did so. She made a face. Good thing Clark Luthor had only made her glass of scotch half-full or she'd have to deal with much more than slight dizziness. There was a white shirt lying on the floor, neatly folded as if it had been freshly taken out of a closet. Lois picked it up and marveled at the softness of the fabric. She shuddered to think how expensive the piece of clothing probably was.

She went back into the bathroom with the shirt in her hands and closed the door behind herself again. The click that sounded as the door shut was almost eerie in the silence of the apartment.

As Lois caught her reflection in the mirror that hung above the sink, she wondered at the fact that she actually still looked pretty much like she had this morning. There was a little dust in her hair and her clothes were slightly covered by the light gray material as well, but other than that she looked... normal. Not at all like someone who had survived two attempts at her life and had been told that there was actually an extraterrestrial being on this planet. Or how she'd thought someone like that would look, anyway.

Lois' eyes skidded to the shower and she bit her lower lip. Even though she looked normal, she could still feel the cold sweat on her body, could feel it like a second skin, one that was made of fear. She hadn't asked Clark if she could shower, but what was he going to do? Kick her out? Besides, he'd told her to 'get ready for bed', so that was exactly what she was going to do.

She stripped out of her clothes and – since she didn't know what to do with them – folded them into a neat pile and left them on an empty white cupboard. It took her a few seconds to actually understand the control panel of the shower. Lois had always thought that showering was pretty much the easiest thing to do, since all showers were alike in one way or another.

Boy, had she been wrong. In this shower there was a whole bunch of buttons that made the inside of the shower seem less like its less-pricy counterparts, but rather like the inside of a cockpit. But when Lois finally understood what each button – well, or at least most of them – were for, it was pure heaven. The water came from several jets at once, massaging her worn-out body.

Lois barely resisted the urge to sigh in bliss as she rubbed her body with some lotion that had been in one of those bottles one always found in a hotel. _You should get one just like this_, Lois thought for a second, but then made a face. Yeah, like she was ever going to be able to afford something like this. She loved her job at 'The Daily Planet', loved it with all her heart, but it wasn't like she was ever going to get rich doing it. She'd known that when she'd signed up for it and it was fine by her, for she didn't see the big picture behind doing a job that may bring her money, but never happiness.

Still, as she stood beneath those massage jets, she could see the appeal in being able to buy whatever you wanted. Not that it would ever make her re-consider her job at 'The Planet', though.

Ten minutes later, when she was clean and her muscles were looser than they'd been in a while, she wrapped herself in one of the white towels that lay in another white cupboard. As soon as the fabric touched her skin her regret at having to leave the warm spray of water lessened as she snuggled into the soft, white cloth.

_Nothing but the best of the best, huh? _The realization stung a little. Sure, she'd known that she and Clark Luthor were not exactly sharing the same social status, but seeing and feeling all this while knowing that he'd seen her small, dearly-in-need-of-repairs apartment made her wince. _Night and Day, Lois. You'd better remember that._

But as Lois looked around the room, something else made her eyebrows draw together in a frown. The room, like the rest of Clark Luthor's apartment, was beautiful, pricy... and completely void of any personal belongings. There were no pictures there, no objects that gave any hint at the personality of the man who inhabited it. The room seemed almost clinical, with it's white tiles, white towels and the tiny bottles of hotel-like shampoo on one of the shelves. The bathroom would have looked like a still unused room in a very expensive hotel, had it not been for the single toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste next to the water plug of the sink. But even then, there were unopened toothbrush-packages in another cupboard, ready to replace the old one as soon as necessary.

Well, it at least told her one thing about Clark: he wasn't exactly the homely-type.

* * *

><p>Clark stared through the glass front that separated his bedroom from the outside world, his eyes unseeing. He thought about how to ask Lois about the information she had uncovered in her investigation, but the more he thought about it, the tenser he got. His jaw was clenched and his shoulders rigid as he gritted his teeth. Damn, it didn't matter how he asked her.<p>

He didn't care that she was tired, didn't care that she'd been to hell and back today. It wasn't his problem. He'd saved her, so he could at least hold her awake long enough for her to tell him about what she'd uncovered. He'd decided to make her tell him before he allowed her to rest – and if he had to shake every blasted word out of her – when a quiet, almost timid knock sounded on the door.

His head snapped around as the door opened slightly, to reveal Lois peeking in. A look of relief flashed over her face when she saw him.

"Ah, good, there you are. I was a little confused with all of the doors and I wasn't sure if you were still here...," she said, leaving her sentence at that, as if the rest of it were unimportant. She kept looking at him, waiting for him to say or do something, perhaps, but he felt so strange in that moment that he was unable to do anything but look right back at her.

She was wearing his shirt, which had been the plan as he brought it to her, but he'd never quite imagined her actually wearing it. The end of the white fabric dangled only a few inches above her kneecaps and her hands were swallowed by the too-long sleeves. As if to complete the look her hair was still a little wet from her earlier shower. As she stood there she looked young, vulnerable... and more adorable than any other female Clark had ever come across.

His chest tightened when she bit her bottom lip as if she were nervous and he suddenly had no idea what he'd wanted to say to her before she'd entered his bedroom. When her gaze flickered to the giant bed that stood at the wall opposite of the door, filling out most of the space in the room, another emotion shot through him. This one, he'd felt before, but it had been a while... and it had never been this intense. _Arousal. _A hot, burning sensation that made his muscles stretch tight and his hands ball into fists.

He shook his head, trying to shake the emotion from his mind. Their situation was complicated enough as it was, even without him throwing physical attraction into the mix. He looked at the bed, reminded of the reason why Lois was blushing so sweetly that second. Not that she needed to worry. The bed was outright huge and offered space for at least four people, so they definitely wouldn't get into each other's way even if they slept in it together.

* * *

><p>Lois' gaze was fixed on the bed and – against her better judgment – she had to imagine how many women had slept in that same bed. Clark was a healthy young man, good-looking and rich and Lois didn't need one of those not-worth-your-money local rags to know that he'd been with many women. Unless the man in front of her was the exact opposite of most of the male population or seriously handicapped – which she doubted, simply because of the pure confidence he seemed to radiate – he had probably slept with more women than she had gone to school with. And she'd gone to school with a lot of girls, since – as a military brat – she'd always skipped from one school to another.<p>

Lois shot a quick glance at Clark. During the time she'd spent in the bathroom he had gotten rid of his shoes and socks so now he was wearing nothing more than his dress pants. It was strange how the usually refined business man looked so animalistic with his chest naked and feet bare.

When he walked toward her, shoulders back and chin raised, he seemed to suck most of the oxygen out of the air, making it hard for her to breathe. He seemed to be completely unaware of how intimidating his presence could be, but he could really give someone the impression that he was capable of squashing someone with his bare hands. An almost hysterical laugh nearly escaped Lois when she realized that, judging from what he'd told her, he could probably do it – quite literally.

The thought made her tremble. Sure, this man had said that he was on her side, had told her his secret, making her believe that she could trust him... but that didn't mean that he wouldn't get rid of her once he had the information he wanted. It was close to impossible that Clark Luthor had never once come across the fact that his father dealt with unwanted people the same way he was now trying to deal with her. Yet Lionel Luthor was still out there, instead of wearing prison orange. So Clark had let him be, not interfering with his father's business... and covering for a murderer.

"Are you cold?" Lois head snapped up at the question, realizing that Clark was now standing only inches away from her. "I'm sorry," he said, looking at the temperature control device that was fixed to the wall next to the door. "It seems that I have a different way of experiencing cold or heat. Temperatures that can be lethal to others only make me feel slightly uncomfortable."

The way he smiled then, slightly apologetic, made him seem so normal, so nice and so human that Lois' heart clenched. She didn't understand this man in front of her at all. One moment she wasn't sure if she should try to run away and the next he made her feel like they were old friends, comfortable in each other's presence even without words.

"I'm okay," she whispered and it felt like something was stuck in her throat. Actually the temperature in the bedroom was just about perfect. Warm enough to feel comfortable, but cold enough to be able to have a good night's rest. Clark nodded towards the bed. "You should lie down and get some sleep. We've got a lot to think about tomorrow. But for now we have time," he told her and Lois, who had already started walking towards the side of the bed he'd pointed to, stopped mid-stride.

"Why do we have time for now?" she asked with a frown, not understanding. Clark looked at her with a closed-off expression and for a second she wasn't sure if he was going to answer her question at all. But then he spoke.

"The hitman probably thinks you're dead. For a mere human, like yourself, it would have been impossible to survive _that_." Maybe Lois was tired and confused, but it looked like Clark's jaw clenched at the mentioning, as if the thought of her dying in that 'accident' pissed him off. He continued, "Until tomorrow, when it's in the news that there was an accident at 'The Daily Planet' but luckily with no victims, both my father and the hitman will think that you are dead. Which means no one will be looking for you and you'll be safe for now. Then my father is going to need some time to think of another way to get rid of you – and to destroy the life of whoever he hired to get the job done."

That last part made Lois' eyes widen. "Destroy his life?" Her voice sounded choked, even to herself. Clark simply shrugged. "Quite literally, yes. He'll probably erase the hitman's very existence. No credit cards, no phone contracts... not even a birth certificate. It's a fate worse than death." He shot her a look. "Not that you should care, considering the fact that, whoever will get on Lionel's bad side with his failure, was willing to get you buried beneath several tons of metal."

Lois kept silent for a second as she processed the information. She didn't doubt that it was possible, she wasn't naive. There was almost nothing that money could not accomplish. But right now she had something else on her mind. "Did you ever... do that?" She almost couldn't breathe as she waited for his answer.

Clark looked at her for long moments. "Once," he said then, closing his eyes as if caught in a memory. "The man liked to... abuse small children. He liked it that they were so helpless against him." An evil smile lifted Clark Luthor's lips and again he looked big, terrifying... and deadly. His eyes were cold when they reopened. "So I wanted him to know what it is like to be helpless." Clark walked towards the door and before he left he looked over his shoulder, catching her gaze.

"There's one more thing you should probably know: The man I'm talking about... he was working for Morgan Edge." A shiver ran down Lois' back and as soon as the door closed she crept beneath the soft covers, positioning herself in a fetal curl.

* * *

><p>When Clark returned after showering and dressing in long dark-blue sweatpants Lois was already fast asleep. He slipped into bed from the other side and watched as the blanket above Lois rose slightly with each breath she took. It was strangely soothing to watch the rise and fall of her chest. Slowly Clark reached for her face and brushed a strand of dark brown curls from her cheek so he could see her face more clearly. She looked vulnerable in her sleep since neither her quick tongue nor the intelligence in her eyes could distract from the fragility of her human bone structure. Suddenly the mental picture of her lying beneath heaps of huge pieces of concrete rose in his mind. Clark shook his head, clearing the image from his thoughts. But even so, he'd felt it. His heart had squeezed painfully at the sight and rage and sadness had waged an emotional battle. He also couldn't ignore that, without his consent, his fingers were still lightly tracing the outlines of Lois' cheek, a soft caress that seemed oddly tender.<p>

Clark drew his hand back, but he couldn't deny it. He couldn't deny that something was changing inside him, that his emotions for Lois went beyond what he'd ever felt for another person. What he was feeling was raw and cut through him like a knife. The most dangerous part however, and if he admitted it also the scariest one, was that whatever this feeling was seemed to get stronger by the minute.

_Planned for next chapters (not sure about how much will be included in Chapter 26 so I'll phrase it like this):_

_Someone wants to buy 'The Daily Planet' and replace Perry White as the editor and boss of 'The Planet' and Lois, in her loyalty to Perry, would leave with him? Why is someone trying to buy 'The Planet' and who is the mystery person hiding behind the name of 'Tess Mercer'? And how do those two blonds, one male, one female, fit into everything?  
><em>

_Stay tuned!  
><em>


	26. Chapter 26

_Hey guys! It's been a long time, hasn't it? Sorry for the wait! Here's the newest chapter! _

_Enjoy and please leave a review ;)  
><em>

**Chapter 26**

Lois woke to the wonderful smell of coffee. She unthinkingly started smiling before she opened her eyes... and found herself in a room that was not her own. Still drowsy, she blinked, amazed at the sight that offered itself to her. She was lying on her left side and she had a clear view of Metropolis' skyline. Her mouth felt dry as she swallowed.

She slowly rose into a sitting position as her gaze swept over the skyscrapers that looked like they were trying to touch the blue sky. Still, not many of them accomplished it quite as well as the building she was in, for she seemed to be higher up than most of them were able to reach.

Belatedly her head snapped around, her eyes settling on the empty space beside her. The blanket was still undone, but when Lois touched the mattress it felt chillingly cold. There was no lingering body heat, so her unlikely savior couldn't have left the bed all that recently.

Carefully, as if not trying to make a sound, Lois slipped out from under the blanket and shivered a little. She sighed and resisted the urge to crawl back into the soft, warm white covers.

Lois Lane was probably a lot of things, but a morning person she was not. She'd never quite understood how people could simply jump out of bed in the morning, leaving that comfortable warmth so readily. But now, in a stranger's home – and even worse, a stranger's bed –, she didn't exactly have a choice.

It was so quiet in the apartment that Lois winced when the white sheets rustled, but then she frowned. "Might as well let him know you're awake. You never know, he may just have super-hearing, too," she murmured, smiling a little. Super-hearing... yeah, right.

She walked over to the door that wasn't closed but slightly ajar and entered the living room. God, it seemed like an eternity ago that she'd sat right on that couch, talking to Clark Luthor about his alien heritage.

It was partly due to the fact that everything from last night felt surreal with the apartment now drenched in sunlight; it was so hard to believe that all of that had really happened. Lois felt different, too. She felt calm and composed and everything from yesterday seemed to have been taken right out of some bad movie.

If she'd woken up in her own apartment she would have believed it to have been a crazy night with too much booze and the weirdest and scariest dream of her life. But with her standing right there in Clark Luthor's apartment, she knew that it had been more than a party-gone-wild.

Lois followed her nose – and therefore the smell of coffee – to another door that wasn't closed and even before she'd reached it she heard a voice. "Come on in," it said and Lois entered the room with her eyebrows drawn together.

Clark Luthor sat at a – surprisingly - pretty normal looking kitchen table, a coffee mug in his one hand and the newest edition of 'The Daily Planet' in the other. Again, he was wearing a pair of black dress pants, but this time his shirt was a light blue whereas his neck tie was a considerably darker shade of the same color. He looked like the perfect businessman, all neat and proper. Except for his hair.

His thick dark hair, combined with that strong, hard jaw and chin, gave him a dangerous look that would probably make most brokers run away in fright. Especially since the dangerous aura was enhanced by his muscular build which was barely concealed beneath his shirt. When he lifted his gaze from the newspaper in his hand to look at her his movements were slow, almost lazy, reminding her of a sleepy lion.

"Make yourself at home. Do you want a cup of coffee?" he asked. Lois nodded, but before she could say anything his head snapped around, his eyes focusing on a small black radio standing on the kitchen counter that Lois hadn't seen before. She didn't know why it had suddenly grasped his attention, but he got up from his seat and walked over to the device. And then she heard it. So it had hit the news.

She listened to a man from the radio station talking about the 'accident' at 'The Daily Planet' and the _fort__unate_ news that noone had been injured. Her gut clenched when a man from the fire department said how lucky they'd been not to find any injured or dead people inside the building.

Lois glanced at Clark who opened a kitchen cabinet and took out a simple white cup that matched his own. Lois' cups back in her apartment were all different, some with beautiful pictures on them, some funny and some of them were reminders of her childhood or more recent past – like the 'White Snake'-cup that she'd gotten at a concert.

Yet again she felt like she was in a hotel as he offered her the undoubtedly expensive but impersonal cup and nodded towards the coffee machine in the corner, right next to the refrigerator. She accepted the cup, but otherwise didn't move. She was too tense as she listened to the news-report about her near death experience from last night dwindle to a 'we're lucky all is well'-close.

As soon as the reporter moved on to a different topic Clark turned down the volume until Lois couldn't hear a thing anymore. The quiet in the kitchen seemed deafening and Lois couldn't fail to notice Clark's thinned lips as he kept his gaze on the black device.

"So now it's official," she said to break the silence, but only a second later wished she hadn't. Her voice sounded hoarse, as if someone had used sandpaper on her vocal cords. _Not so unaffected by nearly getting your bones smashed now, are we, Miss Lane?_There went her calm and composed self. Great, it only took a few words from some guy at the radio station and she was back to the state she'd been in last night. _Confused, cold, bewildered... scared._

Good thing that having _the general _as her father had resulted in her having a perfect poker face. It didn't matter that Clark Luthor had saved her life; she still didn't want anyone she barely knew to see her in such a vulnerable state.

"Yes," Clark said, answering her statement as if it had been a question and interrupting her thoughts, "Now Lionel surely knows that you are still alive." His gaze turned contemplative as he settled back in his chair at the table and he remained quiet for a few minutes. Then his eyes returned to her face as if he'd just remembered that she was still in the room.

"Don't you want coffee?" he asked and Lois realized that she was just standing there like a startled doe, coffee mug in hand. Instead of answering – since she knew she'd just utter something embarrassing anyway – she walked over to the machine he'd pointed to, only to realize that much like in the shower yesterday she didn't really understand this machine's many buttons either.

Sighing in defeat she turned to ask him to show her how to get what she wanted, but he was already right next to her without having made a single sound. "I'm sorry," he said as he took the cup from her hands and pressed one of the many buttons. "I normally don't have anyone else in this apartment, so I'm not used to company."

Lois shot him a surprised glance. Had the man who'd been decreed a playboy by many a magazine just told her that he didn't usually take women to this apartment? So this wasn't his let's-get-horizontal place? _Interesting... _Lois shook her head. _No, girl, focus! You have way more important things to deal with than the sex life of Prince Charming here!_

"What are we going to do now?" Lois asked, getting her mind back on track. She felt a certain attraction for the man, an attraction she didn't want to question too much at the moment, but she wasn't stupid – or suicidal – so she knew her priorities. She followed Clark back to the kitchen table when her coffee was ready and sat down across from him. He watched her pour milk and sugar into her cup as he spoke.

"Well, luckily I know how Lionel operates. He'll hire someone to find and get rid of you, but he'll soon notice that you're not coming to work or living in your apartment..." Lois interrupted him.

"I'm not quitting my job!" Lois' heart throbbed at the thought. She loved working as a journalist and 'The Daily Planet' was the best newspaper in Metropolis. Besides, Perry White was maybe sometimes a bit pushy, but he did a marvelous job as an editor and she loved the older man like a second father. Clark Luthor frowned, apparently not too happy with her reaction.

"Think about it, Lois! Your life is at steak here. My father is not someone you can just dismiss when you've made an enemy of him!" Lois' lips thinned. She knew the dangers, but... she shook her head.

"I can't do it. I'd feel like the worst coward for the rest of my life if I chickened out of such an important part of my life. I get that I can't go back to my apartment, since I'd be vulnerable when alone, but at 'The Planet' I'll be surrounded by people non-stop."

Clark was shaking his head before she'd finished speaking. "You won't be safe, no matter how many people are surrounding you. Hell, it could actually be _more _dangerous than you just wandering the streets. My father could very easily get someone to infiltrate 'The Daily Planet' and get that person to poison you or stab you..." He just left those words hanging for a moment, silently telling Lois that the list was much longer than just those two possibilities.

"Maybe he wouldn't even have to make someone from outside do it. A bribe, a family in a desperate situation... sometimes that's all it takes to corrupt people," Clark Luthor's voice turned bitter, "Trust me, I know."

For a second Lois wondered who had betrayed the man across from her to make him sound so much older than his years, but then she wasn't so sure if she actually wanted to know.

Lois had listened to him with pursed lips and now an uneasy feeling formed itself in her stomach. The thought of someone inside her office – her coworkers, partly even friends – trying to kill her made her sick. How twisted her life had gotten only because of one single galactically stupid choice...

* * *

><p>"I don't want to lose my job...," Lois said, pain clearly audible in her voice and Clark wondered what it'd be like to love something like she apparently loved her work at 'The Daily Planet'. To love something so much that one can't stand the thought of giving up on it? He'd never cared for anything that much and it made him feel... lacking.<p>

That feeling in itself was a novelty to Clark. Yes, he'd been afraid of his father as a child, had wanted to please him, but at the same time he'd never coveted anything that Lionel had. But now Clark Luthor, the billionaire with the good looks and the superhuman abilities, envied a woman who was currently on probably more than one hitman's To-Do-List.

That realization angered and intrigued him at the same time and he was startled by the thought that came at the heels of it. _I want to be happy._ Because that was really what this was all about. He didn't want her job at 'The Daily Planet' or any other part of her life, but he wanted to experience the contentment and the happiness that it seemed to bring her. _Maybe she can teach me..._

Clark shook his head, fleeing from the thought. He was a proud man and he most certainly wouldn't lower himself to ask anyone for anything.

"You don't necessarily have to lose your position at 'The Planet'. I'm sure you can tell your boss that you caught a cold or something of the sort. It will give us a few days to either solve this problem or think of another way out of your... dilemma," Clark told her, his heart squeezing when relief visibly changed her features, making her seem more relaxed.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Lois half-sighed, half-laughed, making it look like a great burden had just been lifted off her shoulders. Clark's heart clenched in response to the smile that suddenly lifted the corners of her lips. It was perhaps the first real smile he'd seen from her and her eyes warmed with it, making her whole face radiate with an unmistakable glow of happiness. And right in that moment Clark knew that he'd never seen anything more beautiful.

"I'll call Perry and...," she trailed off when she slid her hand down her side, apparently expecting to find the pocket of the pair of jeans she'd been wearing the day before. When her hand touched her bare thigh the loveliest shade of pink flooded her cheeks. She cleared her throat and then met his amused gaze with a slightly hesitant look.

"Well,... I'll get my phone," she said, rising from her chair. Clark didn't say anything, but only watched her leave the room instead. He'd been surrounded by beautiful women all his life as they tried to get him to fall in love with them. All the while Clark had always seen that glint in their eyes that told him that they didn't even see _him_, but rather the cash and power his family name had to offer.

Lois was different. She was beautiful, yes, but there was more to her than just her pretty body and face. What was most important however was that, as her gaze flickered toward him once more before she lowered her eyes and walked through the door, he had the feeling that she was actually seeing _him._

Clark leaned back in his chair, taking a sip from his cup. A smile tugged at his lips as he made a decision. It would complicate things, yes, but frankly he didn't care enough to rethink his choice. The benefits would outweigh the possible drawbacks.

He was going to make Lois Lane his woman.


	27. Chapter 27

_Sorry for the incredibly long wait! I started going to university this month and so there's a lot of new stuff for me: new town, new people etc. Now that things are settling down somewhat I hope that I'll have more time to do some writing! _

_Please enjoy and be so kind to leave a review (just to let me know that I may still have a reader or two after such a long time; it feels like ages to me!)  
><em>

**Chapter 27**

Lois felt like a complete idiot as she stumbled her way out of the kitchen. She couldn't believe that she'd forgotten that she was wearing close to nothing. The fact that the 'close to nothing' was one of Clark Luthor's shirts wasn't exactly helping. The only thing that gave Lois some comfort was that she'd been through a lot recently, but even that fact didn't do much to decrease her embarrassment.

She hurried to the bathroom, expecting to find the clothes she'd worn yesterday to be lying on top of the shelf she'd left them on. To her surprise all of the shelves were empty except for the same white towels that had already been there last night.

The towel which she'd used after her shower was also gone, making the room look just like it had when she had entered it for the first time.

Uncertain, Lois bit her lower lip, glancing back to the door that led to the kitchen. She didn't fancy going back in her partial state of dress, but it seemed like she didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to know what had happened to her clothes. _Oh, come on, you're not naked! You've been to the beach before, wearing only a bikini. Compared to that you're fully clothed right now!_

Lois gulped. Yeah, well, but Clark Luthor had a way of making her feel completely naked no matter what she was wearing. One glance from him and she felt as self-conscious as a girl in her early teens who'd just spied her crush at the local swimming pool.

Only Lois had never been one of those girls to blush and hide. When Lois saw something that she wanted then she went for it, facing whatever troubles it brought along with it head-on. Lois firmly believed that a woman should stand up for herself, seize the opportunities that presented themselves to her and out-wit anyone who underestimated her _at their own peril_.

Her mood changed abruptly, going from insecure to angry. How dare he touch her things? Those were her _clothes_, for god's sake, her jeans, blouse... and her underwear. He'd had no right to see, much less actually _touch _them. She was going to get back what was hers and give him a piece of her mind!

Lois took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and walked towards the kitchen door. It was about time that the _real _Lois Lane took the wheel.

* * *

><p>When Lois entered the kitchen again she was still wearing his shirt, just like he'd expected, but the air about her seemed different. Clark's eyebrows pulled together in surprise as his heartbeat sped up when her angry gaze settled on him. Her eyes were like flames and the expression on her face told him that something had upset her, <em>really <em>upset her. He didn't know what it was and in that moment he didn't care either.

Lois crossed her slim arms in front of her chest and Clark knew that, whatever was brewing underneath the surface, she'd be sure to let him know in seconds. As was usually the case, Clark was dead-on with his assumption.

"Where are my clothes?" she demanded to know, her chin raised stubbornly. Clark had to suppress a smirk. So Lois Lane was quite the spitfire. He was already loving this part of her personality. Not many people ever dared to oppose him out of fear that his response would be more than they could handle. Lois did not seem to have any such qualms.

"At the cleaner. I bought new clothes for you, the same size as the ones you left in the bathroom, so they should fit you," Clark told her and almost smiled as her cheeks flushed at the news. She was clearly embarrassed, but Clark's explanation also seemed to make her anger skyrocket. She obviously wasn't all too happy with his answer.

Now that he thought about it, Clark remembered that from what he'd found out about Lois while researching, she seemed to be a very independent woman; exactly the kind of woman that would not appreciate him being high-handed. Not that Clark cared. He'd never cared much about other people's feelings and if him doing what he considered to be the right thing pissed her off then that was her problem, not his.

"I did not – and I repeat _not –_ give you the permission to violate my privacy!" Lois grit out between clenched teeth. The expression on her face told Clark that she was quite ready to do murder and he marveled at the honesty of that look. No nervously darting eyes, no mean looks behind his back; clear and honest emotion, displayed so visibly.

Clark took a step forward, half-expecting Lois to take a step back in response. To his surprise she moved _towards_ him, her smaller body tensed as if she were readying herself for battle. Last night Clark had seen a shocked and vulnerable woman that reminded him of a small child in need of protection. Now he saw a fierce lioness, ready to pounce on him if he did anything else to piss her off.

Whereas last night he had felt oddly gentle towards her he now felt excited, intrigued by the question of what would happen if he pushed too far. That excitement, that rush of adrenaline and wonder... Clark had never felt this... _alive. _

"I wasn't aware of the fact that I actually needed your _permission_," Clark replied, purposely emphasizing the last word as if the idea were a childish notion. By the look on Lois Lane's face Clark knew that he'd done it. He'd pushed her over the edge. Lois Lane was no longer peeved... now she was seething with rage.

* * *

><p>Lois drew in a breath even as her teeth clenched so hard that it hurt. How could she have been so stupid to ever mistake this arrogant in-your-face jerk as 'Prince Charming'? How could she possibly have felt any kind of attraction for the guy? Now all she wanted to do was grab something heavy and shatter it on top of his thick-as-steel head.<p>

But then she saw something strange. There was a twinkling in Clark Luthor's eyes and an almost-smile curling his lips. That took her aback for a second. Was he... _laughing at her_? Now he'd done it. Impulsive as she was, Lois drew her hand back, not thinking of the consequences. She was emotionally high-strung, full of conflicting feelings and too far gone to actually care.

Her clenched fist shot towards Clark Luthor's face. Lois tensed, readying herself for the pain that would surely follow when her hand collided with Clark's rock-hard face. She wasn't prepared for him to catch her fist with one hand and then twirl her around so that they were chest-to-chest. But that was exactly what he did.

Lois felt dizzy for a second, before she regained her senses and started beating his chest with her fists. "Let go of me!" she spat at him, feeling like a child held back by an adult. Clark didn't seem fazed at all. He could have been yawning for all the effect it seemed to have on him. He wasn't keeping her from hitting him, though. _How incredibly frustrating! _It made him less of a first-class jackass.

Lois stopped her assault on his upper body and took a deep breath, calming herself. To be fair, it wasn't his fault that she was fiercely protective of her privacy or that both her father and younger sister had very often disregarded her boundaries, crossing them whenever they thought necessary – or convenient, in her sister's case.

No, it wasn't his fault, but Lois had never claimed to be a very reasonable person. She overreacted sometimes or jumped to conclusions. She wasn't perfect by any means... _But you could behave like an adult about this, don't you think? _

Embarrassment made her cheeks flush and Lois tried to take a step back, only to realize that Clark Luthor had one arm wrapped around her waist, holding her in place as effectively as if he'd chained her with steel.

So Lois had two options: either look in the face of the man in front of whom she'd just embarrassed herself or keep standing there like an idiot. Neither sounded all that appealing to her.

_Come on, you managed to make yourself look like a fool, now you might as well have the courage to man up and look at the guy! _But then another thought surfaced in her mind, one that she realized was just as much a cause for her embarrassment and anger as the violation of her privacy. _He's seen your underwear!_

Sure, Lois was no prude and there were several boys who'd seen her underwear before. Heck, they'd seen her wear it! Yet last night Lois had by no means been wearing anything sexy, but rather something comfortable and practical. It made her blush when she thought about the lingerie that Clark Luthor most likely usually got to see; expensive lace and sexy designs, worn by women who'd never had to worry about their next paycheck.

_Pity party, Lois? These are fun... Why not go ahead and tattoo the word 'loser' on your forehead? _

Lois knew that she felt a – pretty much irritating – attraction for Clark Luthor, but he and she had no ties whatsoever and he had not expressed any kind of interest in her. She had no right – and no reason! - to feel jealous of any of his past conquests. The self-disgust Lois felt for being so shallow to still feel something at the thought of him being with another anyway finally made her raise her head.

She met his gaze, not sure what she would find there. She didn't know much about the man in front of her and for all she knew he could be pissed, unfazed, annoyed or disgusted. Or all of the above... she didn't know which reaction would be worst for her ego.

The look on his face confused her, though. His eyes were blazing, but not with anger. His brows were drawn, but not with disgust. Then his right hand suddenly cradled her cheek. His palm was huge, his fingers long and pulsing with warmth as his hand covered both her cheek and neck, making Lois feel utterly vulnerable.

Confusion rocked her as Clark's thumb traced her lower lip, his eyes fixed on that spot as if it possessed an unknown lure. As Lois took a shaky breath, completely bewildered by the situation she'd suddenly found herself in, a strangely animalistic rang through the otherwise complete quiet of the kitchen. It sounded as if the sound had come straight from Clark's _chest_ and Lois could have sworn that the muscles of his abdomen had vibrated against her upper body...

All thought fled, when Clark Luthor lowered his head and sealed her lips with his.

* * *

><p>Clark nearly groaned when he got the first taste of Lois' sweet lips. The one arm that he still had wrapped around her waist pressed her against him even harder, as if it were moving of its own accord. Not that Clark cared. He was tasting <em>life<em>, hot, pulsing, exciting life...

When Lois had unleashed her fury on him, pummeling his chest with her small, laughably fragile fists, he had marveled at the abandon he had seen on her face. It was as if thought had fled her mind, as if emotions had been ruling her... and he'd loved the sight, had loved the complete absence of that calculating look he had seen so often in his life.

He'd wanted a taste of those hot, raw, burning emotions and suddenly, as he'd watched her pant, trying to regain her senses, he had felt a desire so strong he could not possibly have resisted it.

Now he felt an unfamiliar warmth pool inside his body, making him feel like he was on fire. Somewhere in a corner of his mind he wondered if this was how people felt when they had a cold and were running a fever. He'd never been sick, so he couldn't know for sure, but if humans complained about a feeling such as this then they were a lot more idiotic than Clark had ever thought them to be.

When Lois' lips started moving against his, he wondered why he'd never felt like this with another woman. Most of the sexual encounters he'd had in his life had been born out of some kind of necessity. Sometimes he'd wished to gain access to information and he'd soon learned that 'pillow talk' was an excellent way to get even the most tight-lipped females to open up. When they were sexually sated they all got rather chatty, telling him whatever he wanted to know; settling his own needs was merely a side-effect he appreciated.

Never had he lost himself with them, never had he let go. He'd always had his mind somewhere else, plotting and scheming. But as he felt Lois go soft in his arms, the tension leaving her body as if the air had been knocked from her lungs, thought fled his mind, leaving nothing but the animalistic instinct to bury himself in her.

He wanted to breathe her in, hold her as tightly as possible... When she started moving against him, responding to his kiss his whole body hardened and he was just about to shove her against the kitchen wall...

* * *

><p>A sound that came from the living room made Lois freeze in her tracks, panting heavy breaths as she pulled back from Clark. Was that... <em>her White Snake ring tone? <em>Lois shot a look at Clark's face and she almost smiled when she saw that he was clearly not happy with the interruption. Served him right! She pushed against his chest, glad that she had an excuse to get away from him. He let her go, but his brows drew together and he was visibly longing to say something. His gaze was intense as he looked her in the eyes, but no words escaped his lips.

So Lois turned towards the living room, leaving the kitchen – and trying to come to terms with what had just happened. Dear Gods, had she really just kissed Clark Luthor? Had she lost her mind? More than that, it hadn't exactly been a quick peck on the lips, but a deeply physical, breath stealing make-out session. Like she didn't know that something like this could only end in utter and complete disaster!

Banning that topic from her mind she reached for her cell phone that lay on top of the table in the living room. She put it to her ear and strove for a normal tone when she answered the call.

"Hi, cuz! What's up?" she asked, almost closing her eyes with relief for her voice actually did sound pretty normal. Not breathy or shaky and that was actually somewhat of a miracle, considering that she was still rather unsteady on the inside.

"What's up?" The voice on the other side sounded surprisingly shrill. Then Chloe gave an almost crazy laugh. "What's up, she asks..." Chloe murmured on the other end as if she were talking to herself.

"Damn it, Lois! I just got wind that you are being targeted by one of the richest men alive and that another man – who's also quite wealthy and pretty officially involved in illicit trafficking – is somehow involved as well! Does that ring a bell with you, _cuz_?"

Lois winced and not just because Chloe apparently knew something that she should have no idea about. Her cousin also sounded like she was _really_ pissed at her. Then a horrifying thought crossed Lois' mind. Knowing what kind of situation Lois was in could very likely put her little cousin in danger, could lead those men that were hunting her right to Chloe's doorstep.

"Chloe! Did you tell anyone about this? This is serious, Chloe, did you talk to _anyone_, anyone at all?" Lois asked, fright making her voice sound sharp. If those men Lionel had sent after her couldn't find her, then they might just turn to hunting her loved ones, trying to lure her out. And if they found out that Chloe was asking questions – even worse, asking the _right_ questions – then her little, beloved cousin would turn into a target for sure.

There was a short pause on the other end of the phone and something about the silence seemed odd... "No, I didn't," Chloe said after what felt like an eternity to Lois. But as soon as Chloe opened her mouth Lois knew why the silence had felt strange. _She's lying..._ Chloe _hated_ lying and she was accordingly bad at it, especially when it was a loved one she was lying to. So why was she lying now?

* * *

><p>Thank you for reading! ;) I hope you enjoyed it! I'd be thrilled to hear what you think of this 'development' and if anyone has a guess about what Chloe might be hiding!<p> 


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